Silent Night
by Mokibobolink
Summary: Two days before Christmas, Gibbs is awoken by a ringing phone. When he finds that it's Tony on the other end, barely alive, Gibbs and the rest of the team must do everything they can to find him. Hurt!Tony / PapaGibbs. Not Slash. - COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

_Hi folks!_

_Here's my new fic and this one means a lot to me as I'm actually writing this especially for my friend Laine3112. She's going through a rough time right now, dealing with cancer and all the "fun" that goes along with it - chemotherapy, dialysis, blood transfusions and the like. When I found out that she was going through all that and STLL managing to write some absolutely wonderful stuff, I was so inspired I wanted to try and return the favor. _

_So here's a special little story, set during the holiday season and featuring all our favorite NCIS characters. As with most of my stories, it will focus mostly on a Hurt!Tony and PapaGibbs, but the rest of the team will have their parts to play as well. _

_This one's for you, Laine. Happy Holidays!_

_-Moki_

* * *

Chapter One

"_I don't know…."_

---------------

_Thursday – 3:43am……._

-

_Get up, moron. _

Interesting how the voice inside his head sometimes sounded less like himself and more like his boss. Though Gibbs would probably not use so many words, it was more likely that he'd just smack him on the back of the head. That would prove his point more than a few words ever could.

_I said get up. You're not gonna lay here forever. What would the boss say if he found your body and everyone could tell that you never even bothered to TRY and get off your ass?_

Okay that time it kind of sounded more like McGee.

Tony struggled to open his eyes, his lids feeling heavy and sticky. In point of fact they were sticky, but since he couldn't exactly remember why that was, he ignored that for a minute. He felt moisture under his face - not water, something else. It was warm, whatever it was.

Deep down he knew what it was. Somewhere in the cobwebs there was an image of blood. Lots of blood. Once again he chose to ignore the obvious. Instead moving on to the most important thing on his list of "to do's" right then – open his eyes.

With a groan that ended up sounding more like a hiss, Tony finally managed to crack open reluctant lids. It was too dark to see anything except the faint glow of light above his head. As his head currently felt like it weighed about 400 pounds, he kept it right where it was.

With his forehead still plastered against the wooden floor (somewhere in his mind, Tony celebrated that he either remembered that the floor was made of wood, or was at least coherent enough to feel the planks under his skin), Tony did the next thing on his "to do" list. He looked for his phone. He may not be aware of much at the moment, but even he knew that he was seriously screwed.

Thanking his lucky stars that his phone was not only on him, but somehow getting a strong signal (which he knew shouldn't be possible, he just couldn't remember why), Tony pressed a few buttons. He was in trouble and there was only one person he trusted who would be able to get him out of it.

As he heard ringing over the line, the agent tried once again to raise his head. After a few seconds he gave up, his breath coming in short blasts from the feeble effort. When a voice answered on the other end, he found that he couldn't speak for a minute. All that came out was a painful cough.

Taking a few moments to catch his breath, Tony finally was able to speak to the man on the other end.

"Boss…"

A lot of words followed that simple phrase, not all of them registering in Tony's foggy mind. He soon found that the tenuous hold he had on consciousness, reality, whatever, was going in and out. Like someone changing channels on an old tv.

The voice on the other end became a little more insistent and Tony discovered some more words to say.

"Boss….I…..screwed up."

He tried to say more, but his body betrayed him, instituting a strict "no speaking" policy before he could explain further. Then the voice on the other end became insistent again and Tony's brain defogged enough for him to catch the query coming through loud and clear. He was being asked where he was. Not as simple a question as one would think. In a brief moment of clarity, Tony tried looking around him (no easy task when your head refused to leave the floor), but saw nothing more than blackness and the same glow he'd noticed a few minutes earlier.

Realizing that he just might be in bigger trouble than he thought, Tony found the strength to answer sadly.

"I don't know…."

--------------

The ringing of a phone is not ever the preferred way one likes to wake up. When your phone rings in the early hours of the morning, it's never good news. People don't call before dawn to tell you that you've won a million dollars or a new car. No, a pre-dawn call only meant one thing, bad news.

Especially if you were one Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Getting up to the insistent ringing of a phone had become a part of the ex Marine's life a long time ago. Dead Petty Officers, kidnapped Lieutenants, they all seemed to get into trouble in the wee hours of the morning. Over the years it meant many interrupted nights of sleep for the team leader and his crew. No matter how many times it happened, you never really got used to it.

This morning was especially a kick in the gut. If you didn't enjoy getting woken up by a squawking phone, getting woken up by one on Christmas Eve morning was even worse. Cursing the fact that his team had drawn the short straw and were working the Thursday to Sunday shift (which included Christmas and Christmas Eve this year), Gibbs rolled over with a groan. Grabbing the phone in the dark, he flipped it open and put it to his ear.

"Yeah.....Gibbs," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

Any other person may have heard what was coming through the other end of the line and immediately hung up. It wasn't often that people got crank calls these days, but those old enough to remember the day when picking up your phone to hear heavy breathing was fairly commonplace, might have assumed that's what they were hearing.

Gibbs' gut knew in a second that the sounds he was hearing were not from someone attempting to get their jollies on at 4:00am. They were the sounds of someone struggling to breathe. Shaking his head and blinking his eyes, Gibbs sat up straight and pulled the phone away from his head. The number displayed on the screen had too many digits, none of which he recognized, so he quickly put the thing back to his ear.

"Hello? Who is this?"

More breathing, followed by a wet cough, the person on the other end obviously trying to get enough breath to speak. It was the cough that Gibbs recognized, as strange as it was to say one could "recognize" a cough. The thing was though, if you'd heard that cough a thousand times, remembered the way the person looked under the blue lights, had ordered them not to die – you'd know who it was.

"Tony?"

A few more painful breaths and Gibbs heard a whisper finally.

"Boss…."

"Tony, where are you?" Gibbs was confused. Last he'd seen, DiNozzo had been walking cheerfully out of the squad room the previous night.

Hoping that their weekend duty just might turn out to be light, the movie buff had arranged for viewings of some classic holiday flicks. He'd brought a whole stack of DVDs to be shown on the huge screen in MTAC. Gibbs had turned a blind eye to the proceedings, content to let the others have their fun while he conveniently didn't notice how they were using expensive government equipment for entertainment purposes. He had intended to simply stay at his desk, but Abby had spotted him on her way up the stairs and proceeded to haul him into the room and forced him into the chair next to her. He'd accepted the bowl of popcorn and cup off eggnog, but had drawn the line at wearing the proffered Santa hat (despite the fact that everyone else had one on, even the one Jewish person in the room, Ziva).

Last night they had watched Tony's first picks, "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" (the original) followed by the Jim Carrey remake. Tonight (cases permitting) they were going to watch something else and all of it was to culminate tomorrow night (Christmas) with Tony's favorite, "It's A Wonderful Life."

Now, sitting in his darkened room with Tony's voice cracking through his phone, Gibbs could hardly believe he was speaking to the same man. The one who had ended the evening by making them all sing the "Welcome Christmas" song from the end of the Grinch. How could so much have changed in just a few hours?

"Boss….I…..screwed up."

Gibbs put his head in his hand. The last time he'd heard Tony say that, he'd lost the man to a crazed kidnapper and for a short while, Gibbs hadn't been sure if he'd ever see him again. It hurt him not just because it meant Tony was in trouble again. DiNozzo in trouble was a way of life. He'd learned to deal with that pretty often from his second in command. Tony got in trouble and Gibbs got him out. It was what they did.

Hearing the younger man blame himself for what was happening, that was the part Gibbs hated more. While Tony had a tendency to get himself into trouble, he never did it with malice. He did it as part of his job. He did it trying to help people. The worse he got himself into, the more you could bet he'd just helped (or at least attempted to help) someone else out of it. When another person's safety was on the line, DiNozzo's self preservation instinct flew right out the window. Diving into cold water, stepping in front of a knife, taking a bullet – nothing was out of ordinary if Tony was around someone he felt was in danger.

Gibbs wondered what kind of trouble Tony was in now….and just who had he tried to save to get there.

"Tony, what do you mean? Where are you?"

Tony coughed again and Gibbs bit his lip to hear it.

"Tony? Where are you? Tell me where you are, agent DiNozzo," Gibbs ordered. No matter how weak or injured the other man was, Gibbs knew that Tony always listened to an order. But when there was still no answer, Gibbs cranked it up a notch.

"You tell me where you right now, agent DiNozzo!"

Another long pause and Gibbs heard Tony catch his breath to speak again.

"I don't know…."


	2. Chapter 2

_Hello All, _

_First off I'm going to apologize up front for the length of this A/N but I really can't help it. _

_To say that I was overwhelmed by the response to this story and the affect it has already generated, would be a massive understatement. My intention in writing this story was to make a friend feel better during a rough time. I truly believe that a happy heart helps to make a well body. _

_  
What I didn't expect was the help from all you folks. To those of you who dropped a line into Laine's PM box, thanks so much. All of your prayers, well wishes, happy thoughts, whatever you choose to call them, I'm sure are helping Laine and I was truly touched when she told me how full her inbox was. _

_Once again, you guys prove just how wonderful this fandom is and I'm truly honored to feel a part of it. _

_Here is the latest chapter and I am working hard on getting the next done as soon as possible. I did want to mention that I've added two characters that are (very loosely) based on myself and my mother. My mother beat her own battle with cancer (knocking on wood for continued good test results in the future) and she is part of my inspiration as well. Not only for this story, but life in general. _

_Oh and one final thing. I will be needing some translations for an upcoming chapter so if anyone out there speaks Italian and/or Spanish and would like to help out, I'd be eternally grateful. Last time I needed something translated (into Friench) I used an online translator and was informed by one of my readers that it was incorrect. So this time I thought I'd try a new method. LOL. _

_Love to you all and since I may not get to post for a couple days, Happy Thanksgiving to all my US readers! I'll be spending the day with my mom and I hope all of you enjoy the holiday. _

_-Moki_

_-------------_

Chapter Two

_What the…?_

----------------

"Okay just hang on the line, DiNozzo," Gibbs said even as his hand reached for the land line. His voice was calm, deceptively so considering how much his insides were shaking. It was a skill he'd perfected over the years. He never showed fear or pain, not very often anyway.

Clamping his cell to his ear with one shoulder, Gibbs flipped on the lamp next to his bed with the land line still clasped in his other hand. Dialing, he listened as it rang for a long while until a groggy voice picked up.

"Hello?" the voice was too sleepy to be even a little bit professional. Not that Gibbs blamed the man on the other end. He doubted anyone could wake up out of a dead sleep without sounding a little odd.

"McGee, listen up," Gibbs began, knowing that those few words would wake the other man up.

On the other side of town, McGee bolted upright and tried to swing his feet off the bed. Somehow he thought that he should be standing when his boss sounded like that, but had momentarily forgotten the fact that he was still under the covers. They got tangled in his legs and he nearly fell head first onto the floor.

"McGee! Are you there?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes Boss. Sorry Boss."

"I need you to get into the office and put a trace on my cell phone ASAP."

Before Gibbs could continue, McGee interrupted.

"Uh Boss?"

"What?" Gibbs snapped, not ready for any excuses at this time of morning with Tony barely with him on his other line.

"I uh….I can do that from here. I mean if you need it done right away I could…"

"Do it!"

McGee launched himself the rest of the way out of bed and ran to his computer desk in the other room. Gibbs heard frantic typing and he took that moment to check in on his other agent.

"DiNozzo? You still with me?"

"Yeah Boss…still here…."

"Good. Keep it up."

Gibbs put his attention back on the other phone and heard McGee muttering to himself.

"Okay Boss, I've got it…….damn."

From the tone of the younger man's voice, Gibbs was sure of two things. He probably wasn't going to understand whatever McGee was about to say, and he was damn sure he wasn't going to like it.

"What is it, McGee?"

"His phone, I can't trace it."

"What do you mean, McGee? I've got Tony on the other line, I'm talking to him. I know the phone is on and working. Why the hell can't you trace it?"

Just as Gibbs predicted, McGee proceeded to spout off one of those long explanations that made the team leader wish he had the ability to reach through the phone just so he could have the satisfaction of slapping the younger man on the back of the head. Then again, if he had the ability to do that, he could just crawl through the phone and get to Tony.

"McGee, I have no idea what you just said." Gibbs said finally, still holding a phone to each ear and wishing he had a free hand to rub at his aching skull.

"Basically Boss, Tony's phone is somewhere away from any normal towers. His signal is being routed through…..well, I'm not sure yet but if I had to guess, I'd say he wasn't anywhere in D.C."

Gibbs heart sank at the words. Knowing that Tony was hurt had been easier to take when he'd been certain that finding the other man would be relatively easy. After all, DiNozzo had called him and was still talking to him. Gibbs didn't know a lot about all the technical stuff but he knew they had the technology to trace a live call. It couldn't get any easier than that, right?

Now he knew that it wasn't going to be all that simple. Not that it really surprised him. Nothing was ever simple when dealing with DiNozzo.

"Okay, McGee. I need you to head to the office now. Call Ziva on the way and have her meet us there. We need to start working on this and…." Gibbs paused, taking a second to cover the mic on his cell phone before finishing quietly for McGee's ears only "..and I'm not sure how much longer Tony's got."

McGee's eyes opened wide and his mouth involuntarily gaped for a few seconds. He didn't know why, but somehow he'd never thought that Tony was in that much trouble. Maybe it had been wishful thinking on his part or maybe just the fact that he still hadn't woken up yet. He'd thought Tony must have gotten himself lost, maybe even gotten drunk somewhere after meeting a girl in a bar. As he thought about it though, he realized he should have known better. He'd just seen the other man barely six hours ago and Tony had said he was going home to get the movies together for Christmas Eve.

Much as Gibbs had a few minutes earlier, McGee now wondered how so much could change in just a few hours. The man he'd punched in the arm and laughed at for singing along with the The Grinch was now lying injured somewhere and McGee didn't have a clue how he was going to find him.

"Okay Boss, I'll just send my search parameters over to my computer on base."

McGee heard Gibbs talking but he soon realized it wasn't to him so he waited on the line patiently.

"Tony? I'm driving to the office now. We're gonna find you. You hear me? We will find you."

The younger man frowned sadly at his boss' voice. He knew Gibbs hated it when anyone on his team was in trouble, Tony especially. He kept the phone at his ear, wanting to make sure that the older man didn't have any more orders for him before he hung up. Typing in a few commands, he sent the search results to his other computer and was about to close it down when something caught his attention.

In his ear, he heard Gibbs about to hang up with Tony and suddenly McGee knew he had to stop him.

"Gibbs!" McGee screamed in a panic.

On the other end, Gibbs nearly dropped his cell phone as he frantically jumped to answer the land line.

"What McGee, what is it?"

"Don't leave your house!"

"What? Why?"

"The trace, I may not be able to see exactly where it's coming from yet, but one thing I can see is the signal strength. Boss I don't know how he got through to you. That signal is so low it's crazy. If you leave, I'm afraid you'll lose him and then we'll lose the only chance we've got to find him."

Back in his house, Gibbs sat down soberly. He'd been about two seconds away from hanging up the land line and walking out the door. He'd managed to get dressed while being on two phones at once, no small feat, and was ready to leave. If McGee hadn't caught him….Gibbs didn't want to think about that.

"Okay McGee, I'll stay here. Get into the office. Call me as soon as you have anything."

"On it, Boss. I'm gonna work on a trace and also see if I can boost the signal."

"Good. Go ahead and call Abby if you need the help."

"Got it," McGee replied, smiling as he'd already planned to call her anyway.

-----------

_Wednesday - 9:52pm…._

Tony DiNozzo whistled happily as he opened his car door and got inside. He knew that the security guys he'd just passed on his way to the garage thought he was nuts, but right then he couldn't care less. Pulling the Christmas weekend shift was about the best thing that had happened to him in a while. For once he didn't have to pretend that he had somewhere to go, didn't have to lie to his friends (though he knew for a fact that Gibbs was never fooled) about where he had been over the holidays, didn't have to come in afterwards with a made up story about some hot chick he'd met in a bar wearing a Mrs. Claus outfit.

This year he was going to spend the holidays with his family. Not the people who shared blood with him, but the actual people he spent nearly every waking moment with every day. These were his real family and he was giddy as a schoolgirl that they were all stuck on duty for the next four days.

Once he'd found out about the team's assignment, Tony had started hatching a plan. Within a couple days he'd sweet-talked one of the MTAC techs, a pretty blonde named Lucy, into letting him set up his holiday movie extravaganza. It was lucky that he'd run into Lucy, as Tony didn't think his sweet talking would have worked half as well with the other tech, George.

Traffic was understandably light and Tony made good time on his way home. He tuned in to a station that had started playing nothing but Christmas music a few days before, singing along loudly when Bing Crosby came on. Thinking about the pizza in the freezer and the stack of Christmas movies he had waiting for the DVD player, Tony sang even louder when "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" started to play.

Pulling up to his apartment, Tony was happy to find a place out front. Sometimes the parking on his street could be a little crazy but tonight, he didn't have to park a mile away. This brought his mood up even higher and he was positively skipping as he got out of the car, still humming the last song that had been on the radio.

As he walked up the sidewalk, he saw another car pull up across the street and smiled as he recognized it.

"Heya Mo, how's it going?"

Maureen Hogan lived in the building next door with her little girl. She was a hard working single mom and Tony had gotten to know her and little Michelle over the last year or so since they'd moved to D.C. Mo worked two jobs, so she often got home as late as he did, more often than not a sleeping child her arms that she'd just picked up from the babysitter.

"Tony!" before he knew it, Tony had a pair of little arms wrapped around his legs. Laughing, he bent down to pick up the warmly wrapped girl.

"Mee-chelle, my bell. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Mommy and I just finished shopping for Christmas dinner. We're going to have ham AND turkey."

Tony knew that Mo had no family in the city and on her salary, couldn't often afford to make the trip down south to see her parents over the holidays. She did the best she could to make up for it though, putting as many presents under their small tree as she could and cooking a big meal. The day after Christmas usually started with a knock on his door and a delivery of wonderful leftovers. On those occasions he had to work that day, he would come home to find them waiting on his doorstep – packed in a cooler that he would return the following day.

"Wow, a turkey AND a ham? You've got the best mom in the whole wide world!"

Tony and Mo shared an indulgent smile.

"C'mon Shelby, it's time to get in your pj's. Tomorrow night Santa is coming so you better practice getting to bed on time tonight. No arguments, right?"

"Right!" the little girl agreed enthusiastically. Tony put her back down and she scampered ahead.

"G'night Mo," Tony said, waving as mother and daughter walked up the steps to their building. Mo turned to wave, opening her mouth to say goodnight. Then suddenly, her hand stopped in midair and the words froze on her lips.

Seeing the odd look she was giving to whatever was behind him. Tony turned around.

What the…?


	3. Chapter 3

_Hi folks!_

_Okay first off, a few notes about this chapter. Number one, I just want to remind everyone that the characters of Mo and Shelby are LOOSELY based on my mother and I. So before anyone asks, no, nothing in this chapter actually happened to us. LOL. _

_Secondly, I have no idea about cell phones, cell towers and tracking calls, etc. I'm making every single bit of this stuff up and I hope y'all can bear with me. _

_Thirdly I just wanted to say a big "DUH!" to me for not remembering that last year's X-mas ep was also called "Silent Night". I truly didn't remember that when I was thinking of titles. So yeah, sorry if that causes any confusion. _

_Fourthly – There is some cursing in this chapter. You have been warned. _

_Fifthly (yes, I'm going to keep doing this) – If Katarina Bellis (aka "") could send me a PM, that would be great. Thanks for offering to do the Spanish translations but unfortunately I haven't been able to locate your account under the name you gave me. _

_Sixthly – Laine has kindly written a note to y'all in a review, thanking you folks once again for the kind words and wishes, so take a look. _

_Finally - just want to put in a plug for my blog. It's a bit late but I finally did my review for last week's episode so feel free to check it out. _

_Whew! Another long A/N…..but now, on with the story!! _

_-Moki_

Chapter Three

_Tony so didn't like the sound of that. _

* * *

_Thursday - 8:48am…._

Abby was very good at doing more than one thing at a time, always had been, even as a kid. Currently she was typing away as fast as she could on her keyboard while simultaneously leaning forward to take a sip out of the Caff-Pow! sitting on her computer desk. At the same time, her left foot was busily tapping along to the rhythm of the song blaring loudly out of the speakers of her sound system.

To an outside observer, it might have looked like she wasn't concentrating on the job at hand. On the contrary, Abby's mind was totally and completely focused and the extra activities, like the music, the Caff-Pow, etc, only helped her to concentrate.

Working on several bypass programs to try and triangulate Tony's cell phone was pretty complicated. Unfortunately for Abby, it still could only keep an active mind like hers just so busy. Not busy enough. If the room was silent, if her toe wasn't tapping, if the Caff-Pow wasn't there to be sipped…..she'd start to think. Even as her hands typed out command after command, she'd still be able to think. An ability like that was both a blessing and a curse and today she would have to file it under curse. A big curse.

Because thinking was the very last thing that Abby wanted to be doing at that moment. Thinking led to wondering about where her friend was and how hurt he could be. Thinking led to worrying that maybe they wouldn't get to him in time. In other words, thinking led nowhere good. Therefore Abby was doing everything except thinking.

"Abby, what've you got?"

Gibbs voice came out of nowhere and so lost was the forensic tech in her work and all the other activities she'd been doing to keep herself calm, she had forgotten about the feed. She'd hooked it up so that she could give the team leader updates. The man didn't own a computer (well, at least not one from this century) so it was only audio, but ever since it had been hooked up he'd been barking the same question at her every five minutes for the past hour.

"Gibbs! You scared me to death! Can you at least say 'hello' or something next time?"

"Hello. Now what have you got?"

Abby allowed herself a brief smile, leave it to Gibbs to figure out how to do as she asked and still get what he wanted.

"Nothing yet, I'm still…."

"What do you mean 'nothing'? I thought the reason McGee had you doing the trace was because you had more….whatever it was that you needed to do this."

"Programs, Gibbs. I have access to a few more trace programs. And it's not as simple as that. I mean I was able to confirm that Tony is using his cell phone…..which you probably already knew since you saw his caller ID on your screen, but now I know for sure. Then I was able to determine that he wasn't calling from anywhere near his house."

"I knew that two hours ago, Abby."

"I know you knew that two hours ago, I'm just telling you that this isn't simple. I have to keep refining the search but since we don't know where he is, I can't tell the computer where exactly to look. So I'm just putting in random zones and hoping that I get a hit. I know this isn't the biggest city in the world Gibbs but there's still a lot of ground to cover and so many towers and so many possible places. He could be in the woods. He could be downtown in a warehouse……he could be hurt….," she paused ever so slightly, then pushed on again.

"….there are so many places he could be and….and….and…."

"Abs." Gibbs' voice came softly through the speaker.

Abby stopped, putting her head down and taking a few breaths to hold back the sobs that had been building up for the past hour or so. Her battle against thinking too much had been lost. In a few seconds, with just a few words, it was over.

"Abs…," Gibbs repeated and had he been there, Abby was sure he would have put an arm around her shoulders. She really needed the comfort but he wasn't there to give it and she was determined to be strong. Strong for herself and for Tony, who still needed her help.

Giving herself a good shake, Abby wiped the wayward tears that had fallen with the sleeve of her labcoat. Ignoring the black streaks left by her eye liner, she stood up straight.

"I'm fine, Gibbs. I'm working on this and I'm fine. You just worry about Tony, okay? Tell him we're coming."

There was a short silence, as if Gibbs were trying to decide if he should say anything else.

"I will Abs."

Hanging up the line he'd used to call Abby, Gibbs sighed as he paced around his living room, still holding his cell phone. He'd thought for a moment of telling Abby that he hadn't actually heard anything from his Senior Field Agent in a while but decided against it. Tony's fight with consciousness was becoming less a fight and more a losing battle. Every few minutes or so, Tony would simply disappear - sometimes mumbling incoherently to himself and sometimes completely silent.

With every pause, Gibbs was becoming more and more worried. Tony's ramblings had involved the word "blood" more than he liked and he was sure the other man was severely injured. A quick conference with Ducky had confirmed his fears. According to the old ME, Tony was showing signs of not only shock but severe blood loss.

Ducky had said to keep Tony talking as much as possible, to try and keep him awake as long as they could. Once he passed out the clock would be ticking on how long it would take for permanent damage (and death, Gibbs knew that even if Ducky hadn't wanted to say it) to occur.

Stopping in his pacing, Gibbs tried to get through to Tony again.

"DiNozzo? Talk to me, Tony…"

_Thursday – 9:37am…._

"Nothing." Ziva announced to McGee, coming from the floor below and walking into Tony's apartment. After spending time in the office, calling other agencies to see if any accidents had been reported (that were also missing a victim), asking everyone working the holiday shift when they'd last seen Tony, the two had gone looking for more leads. First up, they had gone to Tony's building to see if they could figure out what had happened and if he'd even made it home. With Abby running the trace, McGee had been free to work with Ziva in tracing Tony's steps the previous night.

As far as they could tell, the agent had gone straight home from work. His car was parked out front and was untouched, the door locked and nothing left inside other than the normal items in his glove box. This was both good and bad news. Good because it meant that he might still have his weapon on him and bad because it meant that the car led them nowhere. If Tony had left anything in it, if it had been unlocked, if it had been damaged, they'd have had a new place to start looking. As it was, they'd had to move on.

They had gone into his apartment and again found nothing of any use. It didn't appear that he'd gone inside. McGee had found a stack of movies next to the tv and a frozen pizza in the freezer. Both untouched and both signs of a DiNozzo night in if he'd ever seen one.

After searching the place thoroughly (Ziva remarking with surprise how much cleaner it was than she'd thought it would be and McGee deciding not to mention the fact that he knew Tony had a maid), they'd moved on to questioning Tony's neighbors. Luckily the building wasn't large and Ziva had taken the bottom two floors, while McGee had taken the upper two.

"Me too," McGee replied sullenly, having just made his own trip from the last apartment on the top floor. "Looks like a lot of the tenants went on vacation. The few people I did find home, didn't see or hear anything strange last night."

Looking around Tony's apartment and knowing they'd gotten as far as they could there, McGee was still reluctant to leave. Walking out somehow felt like he was giving up on his partner. Also he couldn't shake the feeling that if they waited there long enough, the other man would walk in the door to laugh at them over his best practical joke ever. Right then McGee wouldn't have minded if the whole thing was a big joke. It was certainly better than the alternative.

Ziva watched McGee hesitate and could follow his line of thought. She understood how he felt, but they had work to do.

"McGee, we should go and check with the nearby buildings. Tony's car is out front, perhaps someone next door saw something?"

Nodding decisively, McGee put a stop to his melancholy thoughts. Ziva was right, they still had plenty of places to look and people to ask about Tony. It was time to get back to work.

"Let's go," he said, leading the way.

_Wednesday – 11:05pm…._

Tony DiNozzo had never felt so helpless in his life. It wasn't just being tied up in the back of a van, blindfolded and gagged. In his business, a situation like that was unfortunately par for the course. To be fair, he wasn't the only one who'd ever been in that sort of mess either. Even Ducky had been in it once. Sometimes though, it sure seemed that he got more than his fair share of the crazies.

No, what bothered him more than anything at the moment was that he wasn't alone this time.

_30 minutes earlier…._

_What the…?_

_  
Tony turned around, the happy smile still on his face from talking to Mo and Shelby, still anticipating a relaxing night spent watching too many movies and eating too much pizza. What he saw made the smile disappear in a flash and in its place came a worried frown. _

"_So is this him, Mo? Is this the asshole that you left me for?"_

_Even if Tony hadn't spent his entire adulthood tracking down bad guys, he would've known with one look that the man swaggering towards him meant trouble. The unsteady gait (not to mention the disgusting breath) told the seasoned investigator that alcohol had been generously imbibed that night. As Mo's ex (for who else could it be?) came closer, Tony fought hard not to reach for his gun. The last thing he wanted was to make the man violent, let alone cause a scene that was sure to haunt the dreams of a sweet little girl. Bastard or no, Tony would never do that to Shelby. _

"_Hey man, my name's Tony. Nice to meet you," Tony stuck out his hand, planting a smile firmly back on his face. _

"_Nobody's talking to you, " the man said, ignoring Tony's hand as he brushed passed and headed towards where Mo was sheltering her frightened daughter. Studying them as they practically shook in fear, Tony didn't have to ask why she had left this man. It was written on their faces as clearly as if they'd bought space on a billboard. _

_In that second, Tony's admiration for the protective mother grew even more. She'd never talked about her past much and Tony had never pushed, but he'd always suspected that her marriage hadn't ended too happily. But to have gotten herself out of an abusive relationship with a man who would have no doubt threatened not only her, but her daughter…..no doubt about it, Mo was tough. _

"_Richard," Mo began. "How did you find us?"_

"_Ah….so you didn't think I'd be able to figure out where you went? What? Like you're that much smarter than me? Sweetheart, that's what private investigators are for, to find no-good, cheating wives."_

"_I'm not your wife anymore, Richard. The divorce was final. You signed the papers and the judge gave me custody. You're…… you're not supposed to be here." Mo's voice shook a little and Tony saw a tiny chink appear in the armor she had put up. It made him want to protect them both even more, but he decided to bide his time to see if she could diffuse the situation on her own first. _

"_You can take those papers and that judge and shove them up your ass, Maureen. Just because I got into some trouble with the law. Everyone convinced me that I was wrong and that I should do the 'right thing' and let you go. Well you know what? I'm tired of listening to what other people say. This is MY life. You're MY wife and she's MY daughter!"_

_With each sentence, Richard walked closer and closer until his final words had him on the steps with Mo and Shelby. Unable to take it any longer, Tony decided to step in before the man actually laid a hand on either of them. _

"_You really don't want to do that, Richard," Tony's voice - so calm, so quiet and yet full of so much menace – made Mo gasp a little in shock. She'd never once heard Tony speak like that before. _

_Too inebriated to register the barely contained anger beneath Tony's voice, Richard turned back towards the man he now saw as an enemy. _

"_No man, YOU really don't want to be messing with me right now…"_

_Wary of the two innocents so close to possible danger, Tony held himself carefully in check. He was still unwilling to pull a weapon, afraid that it would further exacerbate the situation. Unfortunately, the agent's hesitation gave the drunken man just the opening he needed. _

_Before Tony could stop him, Richard pulled out a gun that Tony hadn't noticed under the man's bulky coat. Cursing himself inwardly for not getting control faster, the agent held up his hands cautiously. _

"_Hey now, this is all just one big misunderstanding. You need to chill out, man. Let's just talk this over."_

"_I ain't talking nothing over with you. If she doesn't want to come because of you…..well, then I guess you'll just have to come along too." Richard said with a sickening grin. _

_Tony so didn't like the sound of that. _


	4. Chapter 4

_Hey folks! _

_Gonna keep this note short and just say a big thanks again for all the reviews, updates, PM's etc. Not only to me but to Laine. Y'all rock!_

_Oh and y'all might notice another "special guest star" in this chapter. It seemed only fair …. ;o)_

_-Moki_

_ps: right as I went to upload this one, "Silent Night" by Elvis Presley came on the radio...too funny. _

-----------

Chapter Four

…_.even if Tony didn't either. _

_---_

_Thursday – 11:29am…._

Light. Sound. A voice calling his name over and over. Tony knew that these things should be registering with him, but he hadn't been able to move or make a sound in a while. No matter how hard he tried, nothing came out. So he just gave up. Maybe if he lay quiet for a little bit the voice in his ear would stop bothering him. It had been yelling and yelling….didn't it know how much his head hurt?

Ignoring the sounds, Tony instead tried to concentrate on the light. Blinking slowly, he forced himself to look at it. He was lying flat on his back and the light was directly above him. It was yellow and looked warm. Warm was nice. Warm was different. Tony couldn't remember the last time he'd been warm. All he could remember was cold. Cold and pain.

"Shut up..," he mumbled to the voice. It buzzed and buzzed in his ear, an annoying insect, demanding attention.

He looked at the light again. The light was easier. The light was warm. The light didn't yell at him. Maybe if he stared at the light long enough, everything else would go away. The voice….the cold……the pain.

The buzzing in his ear changed and like the flip of a switch, Tony's eyes snapped completely open. Something had brought him back and as he struggled to fight the darkness that had threatened to take over for a minute, he heard his name and remembered the phone.

"Boss?….."

----------

"Dammit, Tony. Talk to me!"

After hours of being essentially trapped in his own home, unable to do anything except wait for others to give their reports and listening to Tony going further and further downhill, Gibbs had had it. If all he could do was sit there and keep Tony talking then that was what he was going to do, whether DiNozzo wanted it or not.

"DiNozzo, if you don't answer me right now I swear I'm going to hang up this phone, track you down and kick your ass."

Holding the phone as tightly to his as he could without actually inserting the thing inside his skull, Gibbs waited to see if his latest threat would have any effect. Why he thought his words would suddenly now get through to a man who hadn't responded to him in the past half hour, he didn't know, but he was damned if he was going to give up.

"Boss?"

The voice that came through was so weak that had Gibbs not been inadvertently holding his breath, he may not have heard it.

"Tony?"

"What's……going on?"

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Gibbs spoke reassuringly into the phone. The relief at having the man back on the line slowly being outweighed by how much more weak he sounded this time.

"Just hang on, Tony. We're coming to get you. Abby is working on the trace. Ziva and McGee are seeing what leads they can find."

"I don't……I can't…..where am I?......how……..how did I get here?"

Tony's confusion, coming more often now, still struck Gibbs hard every time it happened. One would think he'd have gotten used to explaining to the situation to the other man but then again, how did one explain to someone the fact that they were lost, hurt, alone and running out of time?

"We're working on it. Do you….remember anything?"

Each time Gibbs asked the question, he hoped that the younger man would have a new answer. The team leader was holding onto hope that one of these times, when Tony's memory of the present faded, new memories from the past might surface.

"…no….I don't think so."

------------

_Thursday – 12:03pm….._

"Last one," McGee said, not mentioning that with the last door also came their last shot at finding out what happened to Tony. They'd already knocked on every other door in the entire building (the only other building besides Tony's on the block) and came up with nothing. There were the ones across the street but somehow McGee didn't think they'd be much help.

A woman opened the door, long blonde hair up in a ponytail and still dressed in pajamas. She was holding a cell phone to her ear but hung it up as soon as she caught sight of McGee's badge.

"Oh thank God. I was hoping someone would listen to me. I thought the cops were never going to come."

Ziva looked at her partner, then back to the woman.

"We are not the cops. We are with NCIS, which is the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. We are looking for information on …"

"You're not here about Mo and Shelby?"

McGee tipped his head to the side, something about those names sounded familiar. "Mo and Shelby?"

"Well actually it's 'Maureen' and 'Michelle' but hardly anyone calls them that. They live in the building next door and since neither Mo and I could afford to fly home to see our families…..I mean who can afford that these days, right?......we were going to spend Christmas together. She invited me to come over this morning to do some baking, hang out, listen to Christmas carols, you know, all that fun stuff."

"Well that is very nice but we are not here about…" Ziva began.

"Ma'am, could we come inside? Maybe we can help." McGee ignored Ziva's glare as the woman waved them inside and showed them to the living room.

"Tell us what happened," McGee prodded when they were all seated.

"Well that's just it. Nothing happened. I went over there this morning…..we wanted to spend the day in our pj's," she indicated the blue snowman set she was wearing. "So I just put on shoes, grabbed the hot chocolate and marshmallows that I was supposed to bring over and knocked on their door. But they weren't there. So I called the cops and they gave me some cock and bull story about not being able to report a missing person until they were missing for more than a day. But they don't know Mo. She wouldn't just skip out on our day without telling me. That's not like her. They even tried to convince me that she met up with some guy or something and spent the night with him. Yeah right…..after the horrible divorce she just went through with that awful man…ha!"

"Do you have any evidence that they are missing and not just out of town unexpectedly?" McGee asked, his gut telling him that this woman's missing friends might be connected to his missing friend. Their names sounded familiar and he hoped by hearing more, he'd be able to figure out why.

"Well other than the fact that their car is parked out front? No, I guess I don't. I just know Mo, that's all. I mean she had plans with me, but I know she also was planning on making dinner and bringing it over to that cute neighbor of hers."

Both Ziva and McGee's ear perked up at that.

"Cute neighbor?" Ziva queried.

"Yeah, I think he's a cop or something. She's always telling me how much safer she feels now that she knows she has a neighbor like him in the building. She says Shelby loves him and that he's really nice. I don't know much more than that."

Ziva reached into her pocket and pulled out the picture of Tony that they'd been showing to everyone they'd questioned that morning.

"Is this him?"

"Yeah…..wait, why do happen to have a picture of him?"

"Because he's our partner, he's missing and I think I just realized why those names were so familiar," McGee replied, a look of recognition sliding onto his face. He turned to Ziva excitedly, knowing that they finally had their first real lead. "Tony told me he couldn't wait for his own home-cooked Christmas dinner. When I asked who was cooking it, he said two beautiful women – Mo and Shelby. I never thought he meant a mother and daughter, I pictured….well, you know…" McGee shook his head at Tony's ploy.

"So, you think they're related? Mo and Shelby going missing at the same time as your friend?"

"Yes we do. Thank you for your help….uh…," McGee realized that he'd never gotten the woman's name.

"Lorraine. But everyone calls me Laine."

"Well thank you Laine, you may have just gotten us closer to finding them all." Ziva said with a smile as Laine sighed in relief.

---------

_Wednesday 11:59pm…._

"Get out," if Tony hadn't gotten the message, the gun suddenly jammed in his neck made it pretty clear. Struggling to get out of the back of the van with his hands tied, blindfolded and the gag still on his mouth wasn't easy. But he finally managed to slide his way out, only to land on hard concrete below.

"Get up," Richard emphasized his order with yet another shove from the weapon and Tony did as he was told.

Ever since the man had forced his ex-wife and daughter into the van and thrown Tony into the back of it, the agent had been working on a way to get them out of this situation. He'd thought about going so far as to jump out of the back of the van, but Richard had beaten him to the punch, tying him up so tight and adding the blindfold as well as the gag, effectively rendering Tony helpless. He'd worked on his bindings for a while but found with chagrin that tying knots must be one of the other man's talents. The ropes budge a bit and it left Tony trying to come up with a Plan B. A good agent always had a Plan B.

Right now, Plan B mostly concerned not doing anything to piss off the man with the gun. Not so much for himself but for a woman and her daughter who should never have been put in this situation in the first place.

Tony felt Richard leave his side but in his current condition could do nothing but continue to wait and see if an opening would present itself. The man was angry and drunk, a dangerous combination. But it also meant that Tony could possibly get the upper hand if he was patient enough. Richard wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the moment and while that made him unpredictable, it also made him sloppy….and sloppy was exactly what Tony needed.

"Out, now!"

Rushed footsteps told Tony that Mo and Shelby had been forced out of the van. The whole time he'd been riding in the back, he'd heard Shelby quietly crying up front. Mo shushed her gently from time to time when the noise had bothered their irate driver. As near as he could tell, Richard hadn't tied or gagged them, probably betting that they were too frightened to fight back. Tony knew that Mo was scared but not for herself, he knew she was worried for her little girl. Otherwise, Tony would actually bet that Mr. Drunk Ex-Husband would probably have ended up with a swift kick in the groin by now.

Shoving his gun into Tony's back, Richard forced the agent forward into a stumbling walk. Unable to see where he was going, Tony just hoped that the man wasn't heading him towards the water. His nose had picked up the smell of it the moment they'd gotten out and judging by the sound of the bells on what could only be buoys, he thought he might be near a pier. Hoping that Richard wasn't heading for a boat, Tony continued to walk. Trying to take in as many sounds and smells as he could, Tony filed them away so that he could find his way out later.

Listening to the change in the sound of their footsteps, soon Tony could tell that they were no longer walking near the water. The echo became louder and he knew that they were between buildings.

Another minute later and suddenly Tony was grabbed by the collar and hauled to a stop. He listened again and this time heard a key in a lock. Then they were being walked inside a large (and empty, judging once again by the echoes of their footsteps) building. More walking, another door opening and suddenly Tony could hear that they were in a hallway. They walked further until he was forced to stop a final time.

"You two, inside," Richard said suddenly. The other man's hand stayed gripped on his shirt so Tony knew the man was talking to Mo and Shelby. "I just have some business to tend to with our friend here and then I'll be back for you and we'll be on our way."

"Richard, just leave Tony out of this okay? I'll go with you if you want. But why don't you leave Shelby here with him and we'll just go off on our own. Just you and me, like on our honeymoon, remember?"

If Tony could have, he would have stared at the woman in shock. Mo was one heck of an actress. Tony knew her well enough to tell that the thought of being alone with the man was making her not only scared, but probably ill. She hid it pretty well though, and Tony had to give her credit for trying to not only save her daughter's life, but his as well. If it had just been him, he would have protested. But if Richard did allow Shelby and him to stay behind, he'd be able to get some help and track them down. No doubt, Mo was thinking along the same lines, knowing full well what did for a living. As for her ex, he still had no idea that he'd kidnapped a Federal agent.

"Nice try, baby, but I ain't THAT drunk. You just want your boyfriend to be safe." Richard laughed harshly and Tony realized maybe the man was more on the ball than he thought.

"Richard, I keep telling you…he's not my…"

"Shut up! I am done listening to your crap! Just shut your goddamn mouth! Now get in there before I throw you in there!"

A few seconds later Tony heard the closing of a metal gate and then another lock being clicked.

"Be back in a few….._sweetheart_," there wasn't an ounce of affection in the term and Tony shivered involuntarily at the menace the man had conveyed with it.

Tony knew now that no matter what, he couldn't allow the man to return to Mo and Shelby. No way was he letting him alone with them, not ever. Whatever happened next, Richard wasn't coming back…..

….even if Tony didn't either.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hi folks!_

_Once again thanks for all the reviews, alerts, etc. As a reward, here's the next chapter. :o)_

_-Moki_

-------------

Chapter Five

_Tony just hoped he wouldn't forget it all. _

--------------

_Thursday, 1:34pm….._

Alone in his living room, waiting to hear back from anyone about….well, anything really, Gibbs continued to pace. He'd been doing it for hours. So long that if his eyes weren't so bad, he'd probably be able to see a permanent tread mark in the floor.

The team leader was beyond frustrated at having nothing to do to help with the problem at hand. Gibbs knew how to handle problems when they came at him head on. He would argue, growl, stare - and if that didn't work, shoot - until the problem was gone.

Now he could do nothing. Nothing but wait until his team figured out what had happened to his Senior Field Agent. All he could do was sit on his ass and listen as the man he loved like a son gasped what he hoped weren't his final breaths.

Then Gibbs realized that there was something he could do. Something that would help Tony. Maybe it wasn't tracing the call or running up a lead, but it might turn out to be the most important bit of help he could give right then. The only trouble was that it required him to do something that Leroy Jethro Gibbs didn't do very well.

Talk.

Gibbs wasn't known for his ability to communicate. In fact, he knew that Tony had once described him as a "functioning mute". Tony didn't know he knew that, but he did. Gibbs had ways of finding out things. He also knew that Tony had been hopped up on a pretty potent truth serum at the time so he'd forgiven the moniker. Besides, who was he to argue? "Functioning mute" was probably the kindest way to put his utter lack of communication skills.

And now here he was, having to put those skills to their toughest test yet. Not only to speak, but to speak enough to keep another person alive.

Talk about a challenge.

Taking a deep breath, Gibbs decided to do what he could to fix the problem from his end. Ducky had said to keep Tony conscious and that is what he intended to do.

"DiNozzo, listen to me. Are you listening?"

Tony's breathing was becoming more labored, but Gibbs was just happy that he still spoke every once in a while.

"Yeah Boss……listening…."

"Good. This is important. When you start on a boat the most important thing is the wood……"

---------

Back at the Navy Yard, McGee and Ziva practically sprinted to their desks as soon as the elevator doors opened, nearly knocking a young Probie off of her feet. With mumbled apologies, the two of them ran passed the poor confused girl and started entering names into their computers. With the faster fingers, McGee was the first to pull up Maureen Hogan's records.

"Maureen Hogan….that's her maiden name. Looks like she switched it back after her divorce…." McGee began.

"Meyers was her married name. Her ex husband is Richard Meyers…..there were married for seven years and had one child, a daughter named Michelle." Ziva continued, pulling up more records. "Richard Meyers, arrested twice for domestic disturbance while they were married. Also suspected of spousal abuse and possible child abuse but the charges were never proven. The husband argued that his wife fell down some stairs after a fight and the judge believed him. But Maureen was able to file a restraining order after Richard was arrested for armed robbery, claiming he was a danger due to his criminal record. That time the judge listened. She moved here from Michigan approximately fourteen months ago and changed her name to keep him from finding them."

"Sounds like a really nice guy," McGee said sarcastically, pulling up DMV records and looking for a current address. "Richard Meyers apparently served his time, not very long as it was a first offense, and then fell off the radar. He was last seen in Michigan two months ago but nothing since then."

"I am putting out a BOLO on his car, a 1998 Ford Festiva," Ziva said as they both continued gathering data on the man they now suspected had something to do with their missing friend, as well as his ex-wife and daughter.

-------

_Thursday, 3:44pm……….._

"Okay McGee, keep me updated," Gibbs said, hanging up the land line after getting a report from his current second in command. Once he'd finished, he turned his attention back to his usual second in command. He'd been talking for nearly two hours and was running out of things to say. The fact that he'd been able to keep up a conversation this long was a minor miracle.

Also, he was really starting to wonder if it was any help. Gibbs knew that Tony was doing his best but the man was barely with him. How much was Gibbs really helping, just by being on the phone? Gibbs was losing hope that a trace was ever going to work. After all, it hadn't yet.

Chasing down leads, working out clues, talking to suspects, putting out BOLOs, tracking down vehicles, interviewing witnesses – these were the things he was sure were going to lead them to where Tony was. Not a cell phone that was somehow being routed through a tower that no one could trace.

Gibbs hated to think it, but he was wondering if maybe he should patch the call through to MTAC and let another agent stay on the line with Tony. Wouldn't he be more helpful actually running an investigation, rather that sitting on the end of a mostly silent phone line? Wouldn't it be better to be doing something useful?

Those were the things that Gibbs kept telling himself, the ones that he'd almost fooled himself into believing.

Because the truth was that Gibbs was becoming more and more afraid that soon Tony would stop answering all together. That one of the long pauses between lucidity would turn into the complete silence that meant the other man was gone. When that happened he didn't know what he was going to do. He didn't know if he could handle knowing that Tony had died while he'd been on the line but not there with him. He didn't know if his heart could handle not being there to help someone who he considered family, someone who was all alone and might very well die all alone.

A part of him wanted to get off the phone, transfer the call to someone else, so that he wouldn't have to be the one to hear Tony's final breaths. But it felt like if he did, he'd never talk to the other man again - that by hanging up the phone he'd be cutting a lifeline.

Stuck in his own hell, Tony was feeling it too. He knew that Gibbs probably wanted to make the transfer and turn him over to another agent. Gibbs would want to be working on the investigation and Tony couldn't blame him.

Tony understood that's how it usually worked. Back when he had been a beat cop, he'd intercepted those types of calls. When someone called 911, the operator stayed on the line with them. Occasionally though, they'd transfer the call to the responding unit. If Tony and his partner were outside and unsure where the victim was in the house, they'd get on the line and narrow it down.

No matter what, a victim was never allowed to hang up the phone until help arrived. This was different though. Gibbs wasn't an operator, he was an investigator. Gibbs couldn't afford to be sitting on a phone line when his skills were needed in solving where that line led. Without any way of manually tracing the phone, they were down to good old fashioned detective work to figure out where the downed agent was.

Tony understood it. Analytically he knew that Gibbs should transfer the call to another agent, so that he could run the investigation. He understood, but he also feared the moment that it would happen. Alone, in pain, stuck in a place he didn't know, for reasons he couldn't remember, Tony didn't want anyone else there with him. Having Gibbs on the other end of the phone, knowing that he'd be there every time he came back from the edges of losing consciousness - it was the only thing keeping him sane, the only thing keeping him alive. Tony felt like if Gibbs hung up, he wouldn't be able to come back next time.

Knowing that he had to keep Gibbs with him, Tony found a previously untapped reserve and the strength to talk again.

"Boss?"

On the other end, Gibbs stopped his pacing.

"Yeah Tony."

"I know you want to …….hang up.…..you can't…….I won't……," Tony paused, strangely embarrassed by what he had to say next. Even in his current state, he somehow still didn't want to sound weak. The irony of that wasn't lost on him.

"Please don't…..leave me alone……Boss."

Hearing the pleading in the other man's voice, and knowing how hard that was for the other man, Gibbs knew the choice had just been made for him. Apparently, he really was of more use hanging on a phone than doing an investigation. Even if it turned out to be the hardest thing he'd ever have to do, he was going to stay on the line…..until the bitter end if necessary.

"Not planning on going anywhere, DiNozzo."

-------------

_Thursday – 12:13am….._

As he was led out of the building where Mo and Shelby were locked, Tony tried paying even closer attention to his surroundings. He had already decided that Richard wasn't coming back, which meant that getting them rescued was going to be up to him. Even if he didn't make it back, he'd have to find a way to get a message across to someone about where they were. So he listened to sounds, he breathed in scents, he felt the floor under his feet – anything and everything he could think of to clue in on where they were.

When they got to the outside of the building, Tony again heard Richard pull out a key for the lock. As the other man fiddled with the mechanism, Tony leaned against the wall for a second. As he did so, he felt something and turned his shoulder. Pressing harder, he felt the outline of building's number – 2001A.

Smiling to himself as Richard shoved him to get moving again, Tony filed away the information. No matter what happened, someone was going to find out that Mo and Shelby were in building number 2001A.

They walked a while longer and once again Tony heard the bells from the buoys, signaling the fact that they were close to the water. Before he could think much more about the implications of that, he felt the blindfold being taken off. Light assaulted his eyes, not much light as it turned out, but enough to make the agent blink for a few moments as he tried to get his bearings. He found himself standing on a dock with a small boat moored in front of him.

_So much for hoping not to have a boat involved_, Tony thought, happy once again that Mo and Shelby weren't there. If this bastard took them away by sea, finding them would be that much harder. As Tony was forced on to the deck he saw that the man had come prepared. In a corner he could see a couple gym bags and a few toys. Obviously Richard was planning on bringing his ex wife and child on a trip and had brought things he thought they might need. Finding his wife's new "boyfriend" hadn't been part of the plan and Tony wondered what the other man had in mind for him. Why bring him here and not Mo and Shelby?

"Keep moving," Richard said and Tony was forced forward once again. The boat wasn't very large but soon Tony saw that the other man was shoving him towards a door that led to a hold down below. It didn't appear to be living quarters (they'd already passed the door to that area), and Tony figured it for an engine/storage room. It was just the sort of place to lock up a person so that they couldn't get out….or the kind of place to hide a body.

With sudden certainty, Tony knew how the other man was going to deal with his unexpected guest. He was going to kill Tony, leave the body below, then take his "family" (Tony used the term loosely, even in his own head) far away and finally abandon the boat. Or better yet, set it for a course out to sea. By the time anyone tracked it down, Tony expected to be pretty much nothing but worm food.

Thinking quickly, Tony knew this was his last shot. As the other man opened the door and started to push him down the ladder, he purposely paused, causing Richard to knock into him. Taking advantage of the momentary confusion, Tony slammed his shoulder back, taking them both down.

Once he hit the floor, Tony's training allowed him to move much faster than the drunken man. Rolling on his side, Tony pulled his arms down and slid his legs through until his hands were in front of his body. Still bound, but now with his hands in a more useful position, he pulled off the gag and went after the fallen man.

Richard managed to roll away before Tony landed on him in a full tackle, but still got sideswiped painfully by a fist. Cursing, he jumped up and began kicking Tony anywhere his feet could reach. His gun had skittered away when they landed in the room and unable find it, he used the only weapons he had. Delivering a few kicks that landed with some satisfying cracks, he continued to go after the agent.

From his vantage point on the ground, Tony was able to see two things Richard could not - first, his cell phone (taken away from him by Richard earlier, it fallen from the man's pocket) and next to it, a sharp edge of metal jutting out from a nearby wall. Crawling away from the continued kicking, Tony first shoved the phone into his pocket. Then he slid his hands over the metal and began sawing back and forth. Ignoring the blood as he missed a few times and got his own skin, Tony quickly sliced through the ropes.

Richard had followed Tony and as soon as he saw what he was doing with the ropes, growled and jumped on the agent. For his part, Tony ignored the snarling man on his back while he made short work of the rope. Once he was done, Tony jumped up, tossing Richard to the floor.

Tony's luck didn't hold out though, as the throw sent Richard landing right on top of the previously missing gun. Grabbing it, the other man turned around and fired.

With instincts honed from years of ducking a lot of headslaps (and his training of course), Tony dove out of the way as soon as he saw the muzzle flash. It saved his life as the bullet missed his heart, but it was still too little, too late. Feeling like he just got hit by a truck, Tony felt the impact as the round caught him in the gut. Not an instant kill shot, but still a very dangerous one.

Feeling blood pouring freely from the wound, Tony got up again, still determined that Richard was not going to make it out, alive or otherwise.

As Richard went to fire again, Tony grabbed a single chair he found in the corner of the room. Swinging hard, he smashed the other man over the head. As Richard went down with a shower of splinters, the gun went with him and Tony dove for it.

Richard knew he was in trouble. Getting up, he wiped away blood from a large laceration on his head and ran for the door. He knew that Tony was wounded, probably mortally so, and planned to lock the agent in and let him die. Before he got to the steps, Tony fired.

The round caught the man in the back, only about an inch away from a kill shot, the agent's hands already beginning to shake from blood loss. Richard staggered but kept going, reaching the stairs and the door before Tony could get to him.

Tony realized a fraction of a second too late what Richard's intentions were and he lunged up the stairs, reaching for the door as it was being closed. For a few seconds the two men played tug of war with the thick piece of wood.

In the end, Richard managed to use his position on the higher steps to his advantage. Planting a brutal kick to Tony's head, he sent the agent flying down the ladder. Tony hit the ground hard enough to hear the sickening sound of his own skull cracking. As he lay there dazed, Tony saw Richard closing the door. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he raised the gun still in his hand and took aim. Firing off two shots, Tony managed to hit Richard twice in the chest.

Before the agent could celebrate his victory, he watched in horror as the dead man slid down. The momentum of his fall forcing the door closed behind him and leaving Tony alone, locked in a room with a dead body now blocking his way out.

Slowly lowering the gun, Tony knew that he was quickly losing consciousness. The head wound was severe and experience told him that his memory might not be there when he woke up. As blackness descended, he tried to force himself to remember everything later. Creating a mantra of sorts, he chanted it to himself in his head, even as his eyes began to close of their own accord.

_Docks, buoys, bells, warehouse 2001A, cell phone in pocket, call Gibbs…..Docks, buoys, bells, warehouse 2001A, cell phone in pocket, call Gibbs…._

Tony just hoped he wouldn't forget it all.


	6. Chapter 6

_Hi folks!_

_Here's the latest chapter. I've been working hard on this story and it's looking like it will be about ten chapters total. We'll see what the Muses have to say in the end but as I've said before, it will be done by Christmas. Even if I have to spend Christmas morning writing in my pj's…LOL. _

_Thanks as always for all the reviews, alerts, etc. Hugs to you all. _

_Enjoy!_

_-Moki_

* * *

Chapter Six

_Tony's time was running out. _

_---_

_Thursday 4:44pm….._

"C'mon DiNozzo, don't you dare give up on me now…." Gibbs swore into the phone after no less than, he paused to check his watch, 38 minutes since the last time he'd heard a word from his Senior Field Agent.

Talking to Tony had worked for a while. Gibbs had rambled on about everything from boats to firearms to fishing and had been relieved every time the other man had responded. Once or twice Tony had even come through with a snide comment, those giving Gibbs more hope than anything else. Every second that ticked by, that hope was beginning to wane.

Before Gibbs could completely give up and decide that he'd lost the man forever, he heard something. Tony began mumbling and Gibbs strained to hear it. At first he could make no sense of what the other man was saying and wondered if Tony's cell battery was finally dying. Then Gibbs realized the reason that he couldn't make sense of the man's words was not due to the weakness of the voice or the phone.

Tony wasn't speaking English.

"I don't understand DiNozzo. What did you say?"

Tony spoke again but Gibbs still didn't understand. Afraid that his second in command may actually be saying something important that could possibly bring them to his location, Gibbs quickly called Ziva from his other phone. Near as he could tell, Tony was speaking Spanish and he knew Ziva would understand it.

"David," she answered.

"Ziva, listen to Tony. Can you understand what he's talking about?"

Gibbs put his cell phone to the land line's mic and prayed that the connection was good enough for the ex-Mossad agent to be able to hear. As he held the phones together, he could hear Tony speaking for a bit, then he stopped.

"Gibbs?" at the sound of Ziva's voice, Gibbs put the handset to his ear.

"Did you get that?"

"Yes, you were right, he is speaking Spanish. He is saying something about 'stop, please stop' and asking why you can't make them stop."

"Stop what, Ziva?"

"Crying. He is saying that someone is crying or that someone was crying. I am unsure. He is not making a lot of sense."

_Yeah, no kidding,_ Gibbs thought.

"It must be the little girl," Ziva said, interrupting her boss' thoughts.

"What?"

"The crying. He must be speaking of the little girl who is also missing."

"Probably," Gibbs agreed with a sigh. He'd really hoped that Tony had been saying something of use to them, but reporting a child crying wasn't very hopeful. For all they knew, the little girl and her mother were……Gibbs didn't want to finish the thought. "Keep it in mind, it's possible he's talking about something else."

As Gibbs hung up the land line, he held his breath and listened very carefully to the cell phone. After a few seconds he heard breathing and knew that Tony must have passed out again. He tried not to think of the shallowness of the breaths, relieved for the moment that at least the other man was still alive.

------------

_5:51pm….._

"Son of a BITCH!" McGee threw down the phone he'd been holding, not even bothering to make sure that the handset returned to its correct resting place.

Across the bullpen, Ziva looked up in shock at the outburst that had just come out of her normally quiet and reserved partner. She would have expected something like that from Tony or maybe even Gibbs. Both were known to slam things when angry (even if Gibbs wasn't usually as verbose as his Senior Field Agent). To hear something like that from McGee was so completely out of character. Her partner was nearing the end of his rope…..or was it chain? Either way, the man was worried, whether he'd admitted it to himself of or not.

Ziva was worried too, even if she didn't show it in the same way. She bided her time until they found whoever was responsible for Tony's predicament by working on whatever leads she could find. She was a patient woman when she needed to be and she could wait until she could get her hands around that person's throat. She would not waste her energy on an inanimate object like a phone, not when she could get the pleasure of hearing the person beg for mercy as she held her gun to their face or a knife to their eye or…….

Allowing herself a moment to contemplate that thought happily, Ziva was brought back to the present as McGee attempted to put the now loudly beeping phone back in its cradle. He missed the first time, his eyes unfocused as he stared straight ahead while absently holding the receiver.

Getting up quietly, Ziva slowly approached McGee and silently took the phone from his hand. He didn't even seem to notice, continuing to sit in the exact same position as she put the phone back and then sat on the edge of his desk.

"This is not your fault McGee."

The statement, given so simply, caused her partner to look up at her with sad eyes.

"Then why do I feel like it is? I can't find him. He was on a phone, Ziva. He's there, alive, talking to Gibbs and I can't trace it. We have a lead, probably the best we will ever find and I still can't find him."

"This is not helping, McGee. You must stop beefing yourself up."

"Beating." McGee corrected absently.

"Oh yes, beating. You must stop beating yourself up. This man, this Richard Meyers, I have seen his picture and he cannot take down a trained federal agent. He is too puny to get the better of an agent like Tony. You must stop…"

Suddenly McGee's brows went together and his head turned sideways. He reminded Ziva of a dog she had seen in a cartoon once and she eyed him curiously, wondering what she had said to illicit such response.

"What McGee?"

"What did you just say?"

"I said that Tony is better than this man. He is more trained, he is bigger.."

"Bigger…." McGee repeated.

"What is it, McGee?"

Suddenly McGee was typing on his computer as fast as his fingers could move. Ziva didn't know how someone could think that fast, let alone type.

"What is it McGee?" Ziva repeated, walking over behind her partner and leaning to look at his screen as he pulled up DMV records. "But we have already put a BOLO on his car and found nothing."

"That's right, we put a BOLO on a 1998 Ford Festiva." McGee replied as if that should explain everything.

"And?" Ziva prompted, still not following.

"Ziva have you ever seen one of those things? They're tiny! Absolutely miniscule in size. Maybe, just maybe, this Meyers guy could fit himself, his ex-wife and a little girl in there but when you add a guy Tony's size…."

"There's no way they'd all fit," Ziva finished.

"Exactly. This guy was driving another car and if we're lucky, we can track him by it."

Ziva smiled as she watched her partner's hands continue to fly across the keyboard.

------------

_6:45pm……….._

Gibbs checked his watch, surprised and relived when he heard noises from Tony after only fifteen minutes since he'd last heard anything from the man.

Relief gave way to confusion as Gibbs heard Tony once again speaking a language Gibbs didn't understand. Calling Ziva, he put her on the phone and listened, putting the phone back to his ear when he heard her call his name.

"What did he say?"

"I am sorry Gibbs, I do not know. I believe he is speaking Italian now and I don't know that language. I can try and see if anyone else….." she was cut off and another voice came on the line as someone pulled the phone from her hand.

"Boss?" it was McGee.

"McGee, can it wait? Ziva and I are trying to figure out…"

"Can you put Tony on so I can hear him?"

"McGee, he's not talking Klingon. Just go back to…."

"Just put him on."

Back in the squadroom, Ziva's eyebrows shot up so high they nearly met her unique hairline. McGee's tone was nothing less than an order and though she'd heard him speak that way before, not once had he had the temerity to do it to Gibbs.

On the other end, Gibbs was just as shocked but recovered quickly. Without a word, he put the two phones together once again. This time he heard not only Tony's voice, but McGee's as well. He couldn't understand what the two of them were saying but it sounded like the younger man was asking Tony some questions.

"Boss?" the query came through loudly and Gibbs put the phone back to his ear. "Yeah."

"He's talking about bells."

"Bells?"

"Yeah. He says that they won't stop ringing and they're too loud. I asked him what kind of bells but he didn't know. He just kept asking for them to stop."

"That's good work McGee. Keep that in mind as you look for locations."

"On it."

As McGee turned back to his monitor, he felt a pair of eyes watching him carefully. Without looking up, he answered the unspoken question.

"Tony's been teaching me Italian. He thought it would be good for me to learn since I'm the only one on the team right now who isn't fluent in at least three languages."

Across the bullpen, Ziva nodded once and went back to work.

------------

_8:26pm…….._

"Boss?"

Gibbs had been sitting on his couch, staring into nothing when Tony's voice crackled on the line. He'd been sitting for so long he hadn't even noticed the fact that the room was pitch dark. The sun had set hours ago but he hadn't bothered to turn on a light. Turning on a light would mean acknowledging that the day was gone and Gibbs didn't want to do that. Flipping a switch meant that another night was upon them and they were nearing the 24 hour mark. 24 hours since Tony had gone missing. 24 hours since he'd been hurt. 24 hours for his life to leak away.

"I'm here Tony."

"Boss…..I…..I think I remember something…."

Gibbs stood up, unable to keep sitting now that they might be getting somewhere.

"What DiNozzo?"

"It's important…..you gotta………….gotta find it."

"Find what Tony?"

"The Odyssey."

"The Odyssey?"

"Alpha…..the Alpha Odyssey."

"I don't understand Tony. What is that?" Gibbs asked.

"It's the…..end……a place…..it opens there…….the gate opens and……you'll find the reasons there."

Gibbs sat back down on the couch, staring straight ahead again. It occurred to him that nothing else the man said would probably make any more sense. Tony's capacity for clear thinking was gone, in any language. Whatever injuries he'd sustained were having their way with him.

For a minute there, the team leader had fooled himself into believing that somehow, miraculously, Tony had just snapped out of the fog. He thought maybe Tony was going to spout off a clear explanation of where he was and how they could all get there. He had stupidly allowed himself to think that it would all be over soon.

Coming back down to reality was hard but Gibbs still had a job to do. He still had to talk. He had to keep Tony as lucid as possible for as long as possible. He also had to keep him calm. So despite the fear that was crawling deep inside him, he spoke calmly and reassuringly to the other man.

"Okay Tony. Okay, we'll find it. We'll find the Odyssey."

"The Alpha Odyssey…….the reasons are there……..don't forget……….they're there to be found….."

"I won't forget Tony."

"Gibbs?"

"Yeah Tony?"

"The tree is…….pretty. I can ……see the…..star."

"A star?"

"Yes….I like it. I like Christmas trees. I wanted one……..in my room…….Daddy said no. But now……..I see it. So pretty. Thanks for…….letting me……..have one, daddy. So pretty…..the star is moving………up and down………up and down………so pretty……"

"That's good Tony. Glad you like it."

Tony's voice faded away as he passed out again. Once the line was quiet, Gibbs reached over to turn on the lamp. There was no need to pretend any longer. Nightfall had arrived and that meant one thing.

Tony's time was running out.

-------------

_Hope y'all like that. :o)_

_Just another quick note to let everyone know that I'm getting ready to launch another blog, yes another one and yes that means I'll soon be writing two. _

_The second blog is going to be all about fanfiction. I won't be posting any stories, either by myself or anyone else (this site and many others do that just fine), instead I will be talking about the subject itself. I came up with the idea a few months ago and I have to say that it was the reaction to this story that made me really want to go for it. My life has seriously been changed by writing fanfic and now I've seen how it can change others as well. Fanfic has always gotten a bad rap but it doesn't deserve it. Fanfic is a great way for new authors to get their feet wet and get feedback. So I'm going to be talking about writing fanfic, giving tips to writers, defining some terms for newbies to fanfic, listing great places to post it and read it, etc, etc. _

_It's going to be called "Moki's Fanfiction Blog" and basically it will be anything and everything about fanfiction. _

_I will be launching the blog before the year is up (yep, I've just given myself ANOTHER project to finish in the next two weeks, LOL) so stay tuned to my profile page as I'll be posting a link up there shortly. _

_-Moki_


	7. Chapter 7

_Hi folks, _

_Soooooo sorry for the delay but this chapter has been really kicking my arse. I have written and re-written it at least three times, ready to trash it each time. Don't know why this one was so hard but I think I finally got a handle on it. _

_I hope y'all like it and I want to give a great big "THANKS!" to Gypsy, Kylen and Snail for helping me get through this chapter. Without all of your input I definitely wouldn't have been able to do it. _

_The rest of the story should flow much easier now and I do still plan to finish by Christmas Day. Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays so far and thanks again for all the reviews, alerts, etc. _

_-Moki_

_-------------_

Chapter Seven

_Without the voice, the pain would win._

------

_9:13pm………_

In a rare moment of almost-lucidity, Tony looked at the flashing light on his phone and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He chose the former and it came out as a cross between a chuckle and a cough.

Hearing the odd noise, Gibbs was instantly on the phone with him.

"Tony?"

"Battery's….dying."

Gibbs' first reaction to that news wasn't a debate, it was anger. Unlike his Senior Field Agent, Gibbs didn't find the idea even remotely amusing. He slammed a fist onto his kitchen table and once again dialed McGee.

"McGee I need a trace on this call…NOW! Tony's battery is dying."

Ziva and McGee looked at each other, their boss' voice so loud over the line that the former Mossad agent had heard him from her desk.

"Right….uh, working on it, Boss," McGee replied, even though he had no idea what else he could do. He and Abby had already tried everything they could think of to find out where the mysterious call was coming from. Still, he started punching keys, feeling the need to do something.

Back in his kitchen, Gibbs was no fool. Just because he'd chosen to yell louder, he knew the phone line wouldn't suddenly just sort itself out. But since yelling was the one thing he could do at the moment, he went ahead and did it anyway.

"McGee?" Gibbs queried after too much silence had passed.

"Boss….I can't, there's nothing I can do. We've tried everything…." McGee said and Gibbs knew there was no point at screaming at the younger man any longer. No matter what, Tony's phone was about to die and yelling at McGee wasn't going to change that. Not bothering to reply, he hung up the land line and turned his full attention back to his other man.

"Just hang tight, DiNozzo," Gibbs spoke softly into his cell. Saying out loud the truth they both knew, would accomplish nothing more than scaring Tony further, so Gibbs didn't. His one job through this whole nightmare so far had been to keep Tony calm and talking. He had to keep it up, even now. He had to keep the other man from panicking or worse….giving up.

"Funny……. thought I'd die……. before the phone……. owe myself twenty bucks." Tony said softly, still chuckling a little and making Gibbs worry even more.

"Not even remotely funny, DiNozzo. "

"Yeah I know….must be losing....my touch."

"Make another dumbass joke like that and I will figure out how to headslap you through this phone. You hear me, DiNozzo?"

"Kinda wish…you would….Boss."

Gibbs bit his lip to control the shaking that suddenly came out of nowhere and settled itself in his midsection. Taking a mental hold of himself, he managed to speak without letting the shudders reach his voice.

"Me too, Tony. Me too…"

Before he could say anything else, Gibbs heard a beeping on the line and he leapt up out of habit. He felt the need to move. Sitting on his ass or standing up, it wasn't going to make any difference but it was his way. Gibbs couldn't sit still and listen to his last connection with Tony die, he just couldn't. At least on his feet he could pace around the room, trick his mind into thinking it was doing more productive than it was. Plus the motion helped mask the tremors that were continuing to build up inside. Shaking his hand, he clenched it into a fist and closed his eyes, breathing heavily for a few seconds and struggling to stay in control.

"Guess that's…..my cue……DiNozzo signing off," Tony said as the beeping steadily increased. Gibbs found himself almost smiling at the man's pathetic attempt at humor. Whether Tony was doing it more for his own benefit or Gibbs', it didn't' really matter, both of them needed it.

"Haven't given you permission to leave, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, stepping into his normal role as well.

The familiarity of the banter helped them both as the inevitable crept closer. The beeping continued to increase until it stopped completely and suddenly Gibbs was holding a phone that was broadcasting nothing but air. Standing in the middle of his kitchen, where he'd taken up residence ever since becoming sick of the sight of his own living room, Gibbs was still for a full minute.

After sixty seconds, the stillness ended with a crash. It sent a neighbor's cat, who'd been wandering through his backyard at that exact moment, flying back to its own home and into the cat door like a shot of lightning. For another sixty seconds Gibbs let out all the frustration he'd been holding back all day. Some small part of his brain was working well enough to keep him from destroying the phone in his hand (just in case Abby and McGee could do something with it to trace Tony's call), but everything else within reach was fair game. It was lucky that he'd been aware enough to save the cell, because nothing else in his kitchen went unharmed. The rage was completely silent except for the sounds of the things he threw around the room and onto the floor. He didn't scream or yell, his voice not enough to express the anger, the frustration, the ridiculous helplessness he'd felt ever since picking up the phone.

For sixty seconds he let himself express the anger in a much more satisfying way than yelling, he did it physically. Once he was done, Gibbs once again stood in the middle of the kitchen, looking at the destruction as he took a few breaths.

Sixty seconds later, he was moving again. Putting the carefully saved cell phone in his pocket, he grabbed his jacket and was out the door. Sixty seconds after that he was already two blocks away, the old Challenger flying down the street steadily. Heading for the only place he knew where to go.

The squadroom, surrounded by his team - that was what Gibbs knew. That was how he dealt with missing people. Tony was no longer on the phone. Gibbs was doing his best to keep the full implications of that fact hidden underneath his consciousness. Allowing such thoughts to invade would shut him down completely and he couldn't allow that. The squadroom was where he was in charge, and Gibbs desperately needed to feel in charge of something at the moment.

---------

_Thursday – 9:42pm…._

Abby walked silently into the squadroom. No skipping, no asking where Gibbs was, no brandishing a Caf-Pow!, nothing that made Abby…..well, Abby. Her normal kinetic energy was strangely subdued as she simply entered the room. Abby never just entered a room. She usually bounded into it, danced into it, skipped into it, etc.

If either McGee or Ziva noticed the subdued entrance of the forensic tech, neither made a comment. Ever since Tony's cell phone had died, both of them had been very busy. McGee was pulling up maps and trying to find anything in reference to bells or "Odyssey" or any of the other seemingly innocuous phrases Tony had uttered.

Ziva was busy calling every other sister agency with a new BOLO. After running Richard's name through the DMV they'd come up empty for any further vehicles. That was until Ziva had thought to look for any registered under Maureen's name. After finding the car that was currently sitting in front of the missing woman's apartment, they'd found another vehicle. A large white van had been rented in Maureen's name not more than three days ago. Richard thought he was covering his tracks by renting under his ex-wife's name. The team hoped it would be his downfall and started sending out the description far and wide.

"No, you may not put me on hold again. I want to be certain you received the fax I sent you. This is very important. A federal agent, a woman and a small child are missing," Ziva said into the phone tucked under her chin as she simultaneously typed on her keyboard.

Looking at her two friends, both of which were too busy to provide her any comfort, Abby stood in the middle of the room for a minute. Feeling like a lost puppy but with nothing else to do now that Tony's phone was dead and both his place and Maureen's had been processed. Not that there had been really any evidence at either, but the agents sent to both locations had gathered whatever they could that they thought might be helpful. After a few seconds, she almost returned to her lab.

Just as Abby turned around sadly, the elevator door binged and with enough force that would have sent a few agents scurrying in his wake (if anyone else had been on duty), Gibbs came charging into the room. Without a word, he walked straight up to Abby and pulling her into his arms, he kissed her on the forehead.

"We're going to find him, Abs," he said quietly as she hugged him back harder than she'd ever hugged anyone in her life.

"You'd better," Abby said into his shoulder before pulling away and giving him a smile. The hug gave her the strength she needed and she turned with Gibbs to look at the other two agents.

Before Gibbs could ask for an update, Ziva was out of her chair, still talking to the Port Authority officer.

"Are you sure? Yes….thank you officer, we are on our way."

McGee hung up his phone. "The BOLO?"

"Yes, an officer doing a sweep of the docks just saw the van. It is parked outside of a warehouse," Ziva answered as she and everyone else gathered their things.

"The docks?" Abby asked, looking as if an idea had just occurred to her.

"Abs?" Gibbs asked, pausing as he went to follow his team out the door.

"Give me your cell phone, Gibbs," Abby said and the team leader handed it over without question. Pure luck may have gotten a hit on the BOLO but that didn't mean Tony would be there when they got to the place. Abby looked like she had a plan and Gibbs was willing to let her run with it.

"I think I might know how to trace it, help you guys track him faster. I'll call McGee when I find something." Abby said, already starting to walk away.

Gibbs nodded and was entering the elevator when another voice came across the room.

"Not going without us, I hope?" Ducky said, he and Palmer coming in from the direction of the back elevator that led to autopsy.

"Kinda hoping not to find a body, Duck." Gibbs said.

"Nor I Jethro, but if you think Mr. Palmer and I are going to sit idly by while you look for Anthony you are sorely mistaken. My eyesight may not be what it used to but that's why I have my young assistant here. Can't hurt to have a few extra eyes searching, after all."

In response, Gibbs stepped back in the elevator to allow the two men to board. Neither of them mentioned that they also needed medical assistance, but both of them knew that was another reason Gibbs allowed them to come on the search. They couldn't call the EMT's until they'd actually found the other man, but in the meantime it would be nice to have two trained medics on hand.

As for Abby, she was already halfway to her lab, Gibbs' cell phone clutched in her hands, by the time the elevator doors closed on the team. Whether they found Tony due to the BOLO on the van or due to the idea she'd just had about tracking down the cell signal, either way she knew her friend needed to be found fast.

Entering her lab, Abby got to work in the unusually silent lab, whispering to herself.

"Hang on Tony….Gibbs is coming."

------------

For a few seconds after the phone died, Tony just sat in the dark and stared at it. Not that he could really see it, but his eyes continued to focus where the dim light of the screen had glowed just moments before. Ever since he'd woken up, the phone had been there and on the other end had been Gibbs.

Tony barely understood what was happening to him. All he really knew was that he'd woken up in pain and that he was lost, but every time he tried to access the part of his memory that led to exactly why he was in pain and lost….he got nothing.

The phone had kept him somewhat sane through it all. The voice on the other end, even when it was buzzing in his head and bringing on headaches, it had been there with him. With the phone Tony had never really felt alone, had never really felt like he wasn't going to make it.

Now? Well, now he wasn't so sure.

Without the voice, Tony was left alone in the darkness. Without the voice, the pain (the pain that he'd been holding back by sheer force of will) started sniffing around the edges of the room. Like an animal sniffing to find his weakness, the pain was there. It was waiting for him to lose it. Waiting for him to lose control so that it could take control. Once the pain took control, Tony wasn't sure how long he'd make it.

Without the voice, the pain would win.


	8. Chapter 8

_Hi folks!_

_Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews for that last chapter. The challenges it gave me were definitely worth it after hearing from all you guys. Here's the next one and I'm already working hard on the last two chapters. I plan to post one more tomorrow and then the final one will probably go up on Christmas morning (it's still the evening of Dec 23__rd__ here, so I have a couple more days.)_

_Thanks again to everyone also for all the wonderful wishes you keep sending Laine's way. Let's not forget to keep her in our hearts so that she can keep working on getting well. :o)_

_-Moki_

_ps: just another reminder that I know nothing about cell phones, tracing lines, etc. I'm just making this stuff up as I go along. LOL._

---------------

Chapter Eight

_He'd never been so happy to see Palmer in his life_.

--------

_10:32pm……_

Three sets of wheels screeched to a halt behind the van called in by the Port Authority. Gibbs signaled to Ducky and Palmer to stay put as he got out of his car. McGee and Ziva were already flanking the van, providing cover so that he could approach it safely. While all of them hoped that Tony was inside, there was no real surprise for any of them when Gibbs opened the doors to find it empty.

"Split up and start searching," Gibbs told his team, waving at Ducky and Palmer to get out now that it was safe.

"Comm is on Tac-1," McGee said, pulling out a walkie-talkie and brandishing it for everyone to see. Cell phone service in the area was spotty at best (which helped to explain why Tony's cell had been impossible to trace so far), and everyone had been provided with the radios.

"Ducky," Gibbs stopped the ME before he could move off. "You see this Meyers guy, you call my team. Got it? Otherwise you two will wait here until we call you."

Ducky put a hand on Gibbs' arm. "No need to worry, Jethro. Mr. Palmer and I have no desire for any heroics tonight. We're just here to provide medical assistance. Have no fear, we will call if we see anything."

Gibbs nodded and trotted off in the opposite direction from where Ziva and McGee had just left.

------

The silence in Abby's lab had lasted all of about three minutes. After that, she'd run over to her stereo and blasted the only kind of music she had on hand at the moment - Christmas carols. They weren't quite the kind carols most people were used to, but to Abby they were familiar and familiar was good. Listening to Android Lust's version of "O Holy Night" helped her to concentrate as she pulled out Gibbs' phone and got to work.

Within thirty minutes she had hooked up everything she needed and started using the data gathered from Gibbs' phone to try a different type of trace.

"C'mon…..c'mon…..," Abby whispered urgently as she watched data fly across her screen. Tony's phone may be dead now but if her idea worked, she was going to use the number stored in Gibb's phone to narrow down the location of where it had been. Now that they knew Tony was near the water, Abby finally understood the unusual number Gibbs had reported coming through on his cell phone. Too many digits to be local or long distance, the number had stumped both she and McGee. They'd tried putting it through any and all decryptions they could think of but always came back with nothing.

When the BOLO had come in near the docks, Abby suddenly realized what the mysterious number could mean. Calls coming in from boats on the water were routed through different towers, explaining the unusual amount of digits. She wanted to kick herself for not thinking of it before but there wasn't time. Now there was only time to trace it and get Gibbs and the rest of the team closer to finding Tony.

"C'mon baby….gimme something good.............YES!" Abby threw a fist in the air and pulled on her headset. She'd already set up comm directly to her lab so that she could talk to the team.

"Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!" Abby called over the line, making the team leader stop in his tracks on the other side of town.

"What've you got, Abs?"

"A trace on the signal from Tony's phone. Well at least where it was when it died….not that it's very likely he moved since then. I mean if he couldn't move before it died why would he after, but if he did then it's not so much a trace on his cell now, wherever he is now, it's more of a trace of where he was when…."

"Abs…" Gibbs interrupted.

"Right. Not important. McGee, are you there?"

Everyone on the team had stopped their searches the moment Abby's voice had come on the line and McGee spoke up from his position. "Here, Abs. Give me what you've got."

Abby gave McGee the info he needed and he immediately typed it into his GPS. He gave everyone the coordinates and all of them started converging on the area from their various locations.

They all ran to the building but moments after they busted through the door, it became obvious they were in the wrong place. Nothing but four walls and a roof, the structure was just a rusted-out storage shed. Inside they found nothing but terminal boxes and wires.

"McGee?" Gibbs said it so quietly, they almost didn't hear him. It was the only way he could guarantee not to scream.

"Boss….I don't know. This is supposed to be it. This should be it….," the younger man looked around him in confusion and it was all Gibbs could do not to slap some sense into the back of his head. As McGee turned back around though, Gibbs' previous thoughts dissipated.

One look at the younger man's face said it all. Nothing Gibbs could say or do to him would make McGee feel any worse than he already did. But Gibbs needed McGee working the problem, not beating himself up over it. So rather than tearing the man a new one for making whatever error it was that got them there, he took a breath and spoke almost kindly.

"It's alright Tim. Just tell us where to go now."

McGee thought hard for a few moments and then snapped his fingers. "Boss, the call must be coming from a boat. That's why Abby's trace led here. This is where it was routed to but it must have originated on a boat nearby."

"You mean he could be out to sea?"

"No," McGee reassured quickly. "I don't think so. The signal was too weak. It's probably coming from something that's docked right now."

Gibbs looked out at the numerous amount of craft docked all around them and didn't feel much relief. Perhaps Tony wasn't out at sea but he might as well have been, considering how many boats were docked nearby.

"Alright, let's go. Call in whatever you find."

--------

_11:11pm……._

"Clear," Ziva said, jumping down from yet another ladder on yet another empty boat. They'd only come across one that was occupied and the couple they'd interrupted from their night of unique holiday "celebrations" had been none to happy.

Gibbs' voice crackled in their ears asking for an update. Ziva paused to respond while McGee aimed his flashlight on a boat so small it was barely more than a rowboat.

"Yes Gibbs, we have searched the south side of….," she paused, looking up at the large warehouse building next to the docks they were currently searching. "…Warehouse number two zero one one alpha. We are moving on now."

McGee sighed as he once again found nothing and was just about to continue when he stopped for a moment.

"Ziva, where did you say we were?"

"Near warehouse two zero one one alpha, why?"

Something about what Ziva had just said was nagging at McGee and it took him a second to figure out what it was.

"Ziva we need to go back."

"Why McGee?"

"I think it's possible that Tony was actually making sense earlier. It's a long shot but I think we need to go to warehouse two zero zero one alpha."

McGee was already heading that way, shining his light on each of the warehouses they passed to guide his way. Ziva was right behind him.

"Why do you think we need to go to that one?" she asked.

"Remember what Tony told Gibbs? He said he needed to find the "Alpha Odyssey", right?"

"Yes."

"I think it's from the movie."

"What movie?"

"2001: A Space Odyssey. It's a classic," McGee said, surprised that she didn't know it and sounding just a bit like Tony as he did so.

They arrived at the building then and Ziva decided to ask more questions later. If it led them to Tony and the missing mother and child, she didn't really care how McGee had figured it out.

Not sure if his hunch was correct or not, McGee decided not to tell anyone else. If he was wrong, he'd be pulling Gibbs, as well as Ducky and Palmer, away from searching and that might lose them valuable time.

Silently the two agents approached the door to the building. McGee covered Ziva as she picked the lock and soon they were both inside, closing the door behind them.

"Help! Please! Someone help us!"

The voice, faint but audible in the silent night, reached their ears and both stopped. Pinpointing its exact location, McGee and Ziva ran towards it. Finding a locked door, Ziva stepped back and McGee kicked it in as hard as he could. The thing gave way and they rushed inside, guns held ready.

"NCIS! Is there someone here?" Ziva called into the seemingly empty place.

"Yes, please! We're back here!"

Running through a few more doors, the agents found a large room. Inside was a metal cage containing what appeared to be the electrical boxes for the entire area. Locked inside the cage was a woman and little girl. They had found Mo and Shelby.

"Stand back," Ziva commanded as McGee went to the gate.

Mo stepped back, shielding her daughter with her body as McGee kicked the gate repeatedly until the old lock on it finally gave. As he got them out, Ziva held on to Mo's arm briefly.

"Maureen, my name is Ziva. We are friends of Tony's. Do you know where he is?"

"I don't know," Mo replied, her voice shaking slightly as she pulled her still frightened daughter close. "Richard locked us up in here and then took Tony away. He said he would be back for us when……when he was finished with him. That was hours ago…..was it this morning? I don't even know what time it is….and he hasn't been back. I thought maybe he'd decided to leave without us but I don't know…..I just don't know."

"It's okay, ma'am. We've got you now," McGee said reassuringly as Ziva started talking urgently into her radio.

"We have found the woman and little girl. Repeat, we have found the missing woman and child but not Agent DiNozzo. He was last seen this morning being led away from warehouse 2001A with the suspect, Richard Meyers."

On the other side of the docks, Gibbs acknowledged the communication. He stopped and looked to see where he was in relation to Tony's last known location. Changing direction slightly, he headed off to an area of the docks he hadn't searched yet, closer to the building where Tony had last been seen.

-------

_11:39pm…._

As Gibbs made a turn around another building, he stopped as his eyes caught sight of something in the distance and his ears picked up a new sound. Out on the water, small orbs were glowing on buoys whose bells he could just barely hear from his location.

"_... so pretty…..the star is moving………up and down………up and down………so pretty……"_

Tony's words about the Christmas tree echoed in Gibbs' mind and finally they made sense (along with the complaints in Italian about the bells). Looking down the pier, Gibbs saw no craft save for one at the very end. It would also be the one closest to the sound and lights from the buoys.

Pausing to call his team and let them know where he was and Tony's possible location, Gibbs ran down to the end of the long pier as fast as his bum knee would let him. Once he got to the rickety old boat, he drew his gun and boarded cautiously. Seeing the bags of clothing and toys Tony had spotted earlier, Gibbs came much to the same conclusion his Senior Field Agent had and knew he must have the right boat.

With no time to waste, Gibbs didn't pause to wait for his backup. He continued his careful search, finding his way down the ladder to the electrical/storage room. Finding a body on the stairs, Gibbs' heart was in his mouth for a full second until he saw that the build and hair color were all wrong to be Tony. Feeling for a pulse, the agent knew that he'd just found Maureen's ex.

The man's wounds spoke of a brutal and bloody battle. His agent had apparently won, but where was he? Continuing down the stairs, Gibbs shoved the body aside to get to the door and he pushed his way inside.

Staggered to a halt just inside the small room, Gibbs' flashlight fell upon a blood trail. Unfortunately, it wasn't before his nose picked up on it. The coppery sent wafted over to him, bringing with it nothing good. Swallowing, the lead agent walked slowly through the….puddle. There was no other word for it, though Gibbs would have given anything not to have come up with that particular phrase in his head.

It wasn't that he'd never seen that much blood. Of course he had. He was a trained crime scene investigator. He'd seen more blood in the past year alone than most people did in their entire lives. He could tell by look, feel and scent how old it was and sometimes even whether or not it was human.

This was different. He'd never seen this much when there wasn't a body involved. Gibbs pushed the thought out of his mind, walking forward to find the source of the river of red at his feet. He swallowed again, moving farther into the room. He wasn't sickened by the sight of blood. He was sickened by the idea of what it represented - life.

Tony's life.

He came to the end of the rivulets and there his light found a figure. Even in his own mind Gibbs wouldn't allow himself to refer to what was before his eyes as a "body". A body implied there was no one in it. That it was a shell. Gibbs hadn't come all this way to find a shell. He had come to find Tony.

As he got down on one knee, Gibbs felt something somewhat unfamiliar. If he'd been more accustomed to it he might have recognized it as fear. Gibbs didn't really know fear though. Fear to him was something other people experienced. Something that made lesser people scream, children cower in their beds at night, things like that.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs didn't feel fear. Adrenaline, resignation to a dangerous course, anger - these things he understood when going into a situation where he might die. Not fear.

He might have understood it better had he had warning about Shannon and Kelly. Certainly a man would feel fear when his family was threatened. Gibbs hadn't had the chance. His family had been taken from him before he even knew that there was danger present.

Now though, now there was fear. Fear that he hadn't made it in time. Fear that he was about to watch one of the most important people in his life die right in front of him. Fear that he would be powerless to stop the blood. Fear that he couldn't help with the pain that surely DiNozzo must be suffering.

This was a whole new animal and Gibbs didn't like it. Not one tiny bit.

Reaching forward with a shaking hand, Gibbs felt along Tony's neck for a pulse. For the longest two seconds of his life, there was nothing. Then suddenly he felt a beat and nearly sagged in relief.

Ready to scream over the radio for Ducky, Gibbs was surprised to hear another voice calling his name outside. Hollering for the person to come down, Gibbs looked up not to find his old friend but a much younger man making his way down the stairs.

As he crouched by the nearly dead man on the floor beside him, surrounded by blood, Gibbs only had one thought.

He'd never been so happy to see Palmer in his life.


	9. Chapter 9

_Hi folks!_

_Well it's only Christmas Eve morning for me but I know that some of you are already well into your holiday celebrations. So "Merry Christmas!" to those folks and I hope you enjoy this present. ;o)_

_I have lots to do to prepare for a visit w/my mom (that would be "Mo"of course, LOL). If I can, I'll try and post the final chapter tonight. If not, I'll be doing it in the morning. I'm also going to be posting a link to my new blog, which is just about to take its first baby steps in the big wide world. _

_I hope everyone has a wonderful day and I'll see y'all either later tonight or tomorrow…_

_-Moki_

_-----------_

Chapter Nine

"_Merry Christmas."_

---------

_Friday, December 25 - 12:01am…_

As it turned out, Gibbs' relief at seeing the ME's assistant coming down the stairs was short-lived. The look on Palmer's face as the younger man caught sight of Tony, Gibbs knew they were nowhere near out of the woods yet.

"Where's Ducky?" Gibbs asked.

"He's coming…sir….uh, Gibbs. When he heard where you were he told me to run. I'm a lot faster than he is. We were pretty far away."

Palmer answered Gibbs' query even as he kneeled down in the red mess that surrounded DiNozzo's body and started checking the other man for injuries. There was so much blood everywhere that he had a hard time finding the source. When the younger man located the bullet wound, Gibbs and he shared a brief look.

"I need you to put pressure, right here," Palmer directed, guiding Gibbs' hands to the spot.

"No harder. Like this," Palmer said after watching Gibbs' hesitant attempt to be gentle. He took the team leader's hands and shoved them hard into Tony's gut. "Don't worry about hurting him. Right now it's more important to stop the bleeding."

Gibbs did as he was told, oddly almost happy to let the younger man take control. It wasn't a position he was accustomed to, being second in command, but with Tony's life on the line it was fine. Better to have someone with actual medical training in charge, it gave him something less to worry about.

"Tony? Can you hear me?" Palmer shined a small light into the unconscious man's eyes. Pulling out a stethoscope from the bag he'd brought with him, he started listening to his chest. Once he was satisfied that the other man was breathing on his own, Palmer continued to search for other injuries while they waited for the EMT's to arrive.

In their earpieces they heard the sounds of Ziva and McGee returning to the cars with Mo and Shelby. There they waited with the mother and child while calling in medical services, giving one of the ambulances the exact location of the boat where Gibbs had found Tony.

Palmer had just discovered the wound on the back of Tony's head when Ducky made his way down the ladder.

"Oh dear, what have we got Mr. Palmer?" the ME asked as he crossed the room and set down his bag.

"Single GSW to the abdomen and a possible skull fracture, Dr. Mallard," Palmer reported from his position at Tony's head.

Palmer and Ducky continued to work on Tony, doing their best to stabilize him as much as they could before they heard the sounds of the ambulance outside. Palmer ran up the ladder and directed the men inside and Gibbs was relieved of his duty as one of the EMT's began putting gauze on Tony's wound.

They strapped Tony to a backboard and it took the concerted effort of both the medics, Palmer and Gibbs to get him up the narrow ladder. Once they had him in the ambulance, Ducky pushed his old friend towards the door.

"You go with him, Jethro. We'll be right behind you."

Gibbs nodded and as he jumped in the back of the rig, got on the radio.

"McGee, you copy?"

Just finished taking Maureen's statement, McGee pulled out his radio.

"Here Boss."

"We're taking Tony to Bethesda. Have another team come in and handle the scenes at the boat and the warehouse. Then have Ziva drive Maureen and Michelle home so they can get some rest. Did the medics check them out?"

"Yeah Boss, they're both fine."

"Good. Ziva can drive to the hospital once she's got them settled at home."

"Got it, Boss. You want me to stay here and run the scenes?" McGee asked. Since Gibbs hadn't mentioned anything about him, he assumed that's where his boss wanted him to be. He was disappointed not to be able to go to the hospital with everyone else. He was anxious to find out how Tony was doing, but he would live with it.

"Not quite. You remember where I told you my spare key was for the Challenger?"

"Yes, Boss," McGee said, remembering when Gibbs had told them all about the spare key hidden in one of the tire wells. Since he liked to drive his own car to crime scenes sometimes, it was necessary in case it had to be returned to the Navy Base without him. So far it had yet to happen, Gibbs doing pretty much anything he could to ensure that no one drove the gorgeous old classic but him.

"Good. I need you to drive it to Bethesda for me. Think you can do that?" Gibbs smirked a little, knowing exactly what it would mean to McGee to be asked.

"Absolutely, Boss," McGee said with a grin. "See you there soon."

"Oh and McGee?"

"Yeah Boss?"

"You get there before the ambulance and I'll kick your ass for driving my car too fast."

"Got it, Boss."

--------------

The ambulance arrived at the hospital just as Abby did, clutching Bert worriedly to her chest. As Gibbs wasn't allowed to go into the trauma room, he joined her in the waiting room. A few minutes later Ducky and Palmer arrived, followed closely by McGee. Ziva joined them not too long after that and soon all found themselves waiting for any news on their friend.

After an hour, a doctor came out and gave them a brief explanation of what was happening with Tony. After the man left, rushing off to surgery, Ducky did his best to go over it all again in layman's terms.

"Dr. Warren said that the head CT showed no skull fracture, which is good. He did lose a lot of blood but they're hopeful that the bullet in his abdomen didn't do too much damage. They're going in now to explore the area, take out the bullet and once he's in recovery they'll let us start going in one by one.

True to his word, the doctor emerged from the operating room about two hours later and gave them another update. This time no further explanation was needed from the ME.

"Agent DiNozzo's gunshot wound wasn't serious and we were able to repair the small tears we found. His head wound caused a concussion but no more damage than that," Dr. Warren said, pulling off his mask ask he entered the room to address the worried team.

"So he's going to be fine, right?" Abby asked, still holding on to Bert tightly.

Dr. Warren paused a moment before answering. "All I can say for now is that neither of his injuries is directly threatening his life. However, he lost a lot of blood before we were able to get to him. Now we're giving him blood and fluids, but he's still very weak. The shock of the injuries and the blood loss is serious and we just won't know for a while whether or not he can fight back."

"He can fight back," Gibbs said suddenly, rising to his feet. "When can I see him?"

"Now, if you like. But I can only allow one or two at a time. He needs complete rest and quiet to let that body of his heal."

Gibbs nodded, taking Abby's hand and pulling her with him. He knew she wouldn't be able to go back to waiting without laying her eyes on Tony and putting Bert on the bed with him. She believed the little stuffed creature would help him heal and right now Gibbs was ready to believe in anything that might help Tony with the fight he had ahead of him.

After Abby returned and Ziva was allowed to go back to join Gibbs (who, as always, wasn't about to leave his agent's side), Ducky got up to stretch his legs. Walking for a little bit, the ME was surprised to find Palmer down the hall in a corner by himself. Ducky approached the younger man with a frown.

"Mr. Palmer, is everything alright?"

Palmer turned his body more towards Ducky and the ME was shocked to see the pain written on the younger man's face.

"I should have gotten there faster, Dr. Mallard. Maybe if I'd run faster I would've gotten there a few minutes earlier and been able to…"

"To what, Jimmy? Anthony was seriously wounded and went untreated for nearly 24 hours. There is nothing that you could have done in mere minutes to make up for that."

"How do you know?" Palmer begged, his eyes pleading with his mentor to tell him an answer that would somehow make him feel better.

Ducky sighed sadly and gently guided his assistant to a nearby chair. Sitting down beside the distraught man, the ME put a hand on his shoulder. He had known that Jimmy and Tony had become close, their friendship blossoming when Gibbs had been in Mexico. It had made him proud to see the two of them working together so well. It was like getting a view into the future, after he and Gibbs were no longer around. The two men seemed to be forming a bond like his and Jethro's, and that was a good thing.

"James," Ducky began seriously, getting his assistant's attention by using his given name. "You cannot do this to yourself. Being able to treat a friend as a patient without getting emotionally involved is no easy task but it is one that you must master."

"How did you do it, Dr. Mallard?" Jimmy asked quietly, really wanting to know, really wanting to understand how that was possible. How someone could walk through a pool of blood that belonged to a good friend and not have it tear your heart out.

"When I was in Vietnam," Ducky began. "I mostly treated men wounded in combat who were brought to me on stretchers. Most of the time they were nameless, just an injury to be treated."

Ducky looked up thoughtfully, his mind in the past. "Then one afternoon a sniper started firing upon the base. Before he was taken out he got to more than a dozen people, many of whom were my good friends. It was then that I learned that as hard as it was, I had to stop being 'friend' and become only 'doctor' when treating them. It was the only way to ensure they got the care they needed."

"But it's not fair, doctors in hospitals aren't even allowed to treat their own family members. How are we expected to do it?"

"Precisely and why do you think that is, Mr. Palmer?"

"Because they can't be objective."

"Correct. So do you realize what it means to be able to say that you treated a friend? Not only treated, but stabilized him enough to get him here where he could get the care he needed?"

Palmer shook his head. "I didn't do much."

"You did plenty, my dear boy. You took control of the scene. You assessed Agent DiNozzo…your friend's….injuries. You helped get pressure on his wounds," Ducky smiled as he held up a finger to his younger friend. "Jethro says you even started ordering _him_ about."

The younger man chuckled a little. "I guess I did at that."

"Yes you did, Mr. Palmer and that is exactly what you should have done. That is what tells me that you are going to make a splendid doctor and medical examiner someday."

Taking a deep breath, Palmer's body visibly relaxed as he let loose the tension he'd been holding onto ever since he'd walked onto that boat and seen Tony lying in a pool of his own blood.

"Thank you Dr. Mallard."

"Of course dear boy, now let's go see about getting another update on your friend, shall we? I think two doctors should be able to finagle something more out of the staff."

Palmer nodded enthusiastically, following the ME through the double doors marked "Hospital Staff Only"

-----

_6:49am…._

After everyone on the team had come to visit once, the nurses' had attempted to put a stop to all visits. Having never dealt with Gibbs before they'd foolishly thought they were in charge of their own ward. He'd disillusioned them of that thought pretty quickly and had been sitting alone by Tony's bed for a few hours.

Leaning forward in his chair, Gibbs' hand had absently found Tony's shoulder a while ago. He held onto it lightly, his thumb running back and forth in an aimless motion across the fabric of the thin hospital gown.

By some crazy chance, considering Tony's past medical history, the man didn't require much assistance to breath. Only a thin cannula ran from the almost noiseless machine on the side of the bed. Bags of blood and fluid dripped into the lines in his arms, also silent.

It was the silence in the room that Gibbs' found uncomfortable. As much as he hated ventilators, he had to admit that he'd gotten used to the damn things. As many times as he'd had to sit by and wait for someone on his team to heal (Gibbs worked hard to try and forget just how many times that seemed to be Tony), he'd hardly ever done it in silence. The whole time Gibbs sat with him, Tony never made a sound, never moved. His body was too weak to do more than sleep soundly, unconscious to everything around him.

The silence was such that as dawn came closer, he heard the nurses turn on a radio at their station down the hall. It wasn't loud but he still could hear it and soon recognized the tune – "Silent Night". It was a slow, melancholy version of the song and it reminded him that he'd had about enough of a 'silent night', Gibbs was ready for Tony to wake up. Right about then, he would've even been happy to hear the man make a stupid movie reference, just as long as he made some noise.

There was something else that the song brought to mind. All day long, all night long, the entire time they'd been looking for Tony, Gibbs had managed to forget that it was Christmas. The holidays hadn't meant much to him after he'd lost his family and it was only in recent years that he'd started to have a tentative association with it. A few drinks with Ducky on a Christmas Eve here and there, a present one year for Abby had slowly become a few presents for his team. Until soon he found himself turning his basement into a toy shop starting in November, making handmade wooden toys for kids at a local Children's Hospital.

He still kept to himself on Christmas Day, preferring to be alone with his memories – like ones of a happy little girl tearing the bow off her new bike and a wife kissing him passionately upon the receipt of a pair of gold earrings.

This year he'd been perfectly happy to draw the holiday duty. Much like Tony, Gibbs didn't like avoiding the awkward questions about where he was going to spend the holidays, nor lying about it afterwards. Having to work on those days seemed like a perfect solution.

Ever since the phone call that had woken him up the previous night, all thoughts of the holiday had vanished. He'd only had one thought; find Tony.

Now as he sat in the quiet room, the music reminded him once again of what time of year it was.

Gibbs had never given up on the entire idea of Christmas. In fact, compared to most people (many of whom only believed that Christmas was the day that they got lots of expensive gifts), Gibbs was more into the spirit of the whole thing than many knew. To him it was a time to show love to those you cared about, to feel closer to a higher power, and to help those in need.

To him it was also a time of healing. As the holiday fell so close to the end of the year, Gibbs couldn't help but to feel that new beginnings always came after. In those years after Shannon and Kelly died, sometimes just knowing that he'd made it through another year was enough to keep him going into the next.

He may not run around with a Santa hat on and dress his car up as a reindeer (a new trend that had him shaking his head whenever he spotted a mini van adorned with antlers and a red nose), but Gibbs could never be called a "scrooge".

Gibbs had come a long way since being the man who locked himself up in a basement with a bottle of bourbon on Christmas day. He considered the fact that he'd gotten through it all a minor miracle and he couldn't believe that he had struggled that hard only to have it end like this. He just couldn't. There was no way that he would lose Tony on this day. It couldn't be what was in the cards for them. Gibbs had envisioned such a different future for the two of them.

Families (even pseudo-families like the one he had with his team) being what they were, Gibbs knew that there would come a time when most of his 'family' would leave him. Though, he found himself hoping that it would be due to things like promotions and marriages, rather than the bullet that had taken Kate from him. Somewhere deep down though, Gibbs had always been certain that Tony would be around in the future.

Gibbs desperately wanted to meet the children he knew Tony would bring to his house someday. Gibbs would happily be godfather, "uncle", whatever, to those children. He wasn't about to let a crazy maniac ex-husband to an innocent woman and child take that future away from him.

Suddenly, just as the sun peaked its way through the curtains on the window, Gibbs felt at peace. Suddenly he felt certain that everything would be fine, that his faith in that future was going to see them through.

Hearing a slight noise in the still room, Gibbs looked down to find a pair of green eyes regarding him. He smiled at Tony and spoke the only words that seemed appropriate for the gift they'd just been given.

"Merry Christmas."


	10. Chapter 10

_Hi folks!_

_Okay so thinking I could have my mom spend the night over at my place on Christmas Eve , plus go visit all the family we had to on Christmas Day, AND finish this story, turned out to be not the best idea. So I hope y'all will forgive me for finishing this up a day late. _

_As I wrote the last bit of this story I found myself thinking of Gibbs, Tony and the rest of the team and how they make up an unusual family. I can't help but to feel that way about us up here in this little NCIS fanfic world. _

_So thanks again for all the well wishes you have been sending Laine's way and I hope y'all keep it up, even after my little story is done. _

_Merry Christmas!_

_-Moki_

---------

Chapter Ten

_It really was a wonderful life._

----------

If the nurses had thought staying in charge of Tony's room was hard before, it was nothing compared to what it was like after word got out to the team that the patient was awake. At first they'd tried to hold back the tide but once they saw that the visitors weren't causing undue stress (in fact, the man seemed more relaxed when the entire group was crowded into his room), they let it go. If these people, none of whom were apparently actually related to the patient, wanted to spend their entire Christmas Day in a hospital, the staff decided to let it go.

"Boss?" Tony's voice came weakly from the pillow, barely audible in the somewhat noisy room as everyone found a place to settle in. After Tony's doctor came to check on him earlier and found his patient looking much better, he'd ordered the agent moved out of the ICU unit. Later in the afternoon, Tony had been taken to a room with two beds, though the second was empty. The team had come in not long after, happy for the extra space.

Gibbs himself had been a tad worried when everyone had come filing in, but he too couldn't deny that Tony seemed stronger when surrounded by his friends. Gibbs wondered if subconsciously he felt safer surrounded by people, after all those hours alone on that boat.

"Yeah Tony, you need something?" Gibbs asked, ready to push the call button for the nurse. Or simply let Abby run down the hall, knowing she would do so without hesitation if he even hinted that Tony needed something.

"Everyone doesn't have to stay…..if they don't want….," Tony said as Gibbs leaned in to hear the whisper, which was all the other man could muster at the moment.

Lying in the bed and watching everyone gathered round on what was supposed to be a family holiday, Tony couldn't help but to feel a little guilty. While it was true that he didn't want to be alone, nor did he want to be the cause of everyone missing out on having a normal day. Gibbs had already told him that the backup team had been put on alert. The Director took Gibbs' team off the roster thanks to losing one of its members to injuries. Luckily the other team hadn't been called out on a case, the day proving thankfully quiet. But now that Gibbs' team was taken off duty, it seemed a shame to have them waste their Christmas Day staring at him lying in a bed, no matter how much he may want it.

"Don't think I could make them leave even if I wanted to DiNozzo. As it was, Abby nearly caused a riot when they tried to instill a 'three at a time rule'," Gibbs replied with a slight smile as he said it just loud enough to be heard by everyone else.

"Ha! As if we'd leave you, Tony," Abby said from her perch at the end of his bed. She'd placed herself there ever since being allowed by her friend's side. Every once in a while she reached over to touch his leg through the blankets, as if to ensure herself that he was still there.

"Well it's not quite a turkey dinner or roasted goose but I think this will do," Ducky said, he and Palmer entering Tony's room with right then with bags in their hands. Pulling out the spare table from the unoccupied bed, they pulled out small triangle shaped boxes filled with sandwiches.

"We have turkey, roast beef, vegetable and egg salad," Palmer announced as he pulled out the packages.

If anyone thought the idea of a feast of less than stellar sandwiches and apple juice boxes from the hospital's cafeteria wasn't what they wanted for Christmas dinner, no one made any complaint. It wasn't until they all started digging in that everyone realized just how hungry they were. No one had really thought of food while searching for Tony or while waiting on word that he was okay after surgery. At that point, hospital sandwiches and juice boxes felt like a feast.

Not allowed anything more than some soup that the nurses had brought, Tony still enjoyed his dinner. Smiling and laughing, he joined in the lively conversations going around the room as much as he could.

When everyone was nearly finished, Ducky excused himself briefly. He returned a few minutes later and he and Abby smiled and winked at each other secretly. A while later, the nurses brought in bowls of pudding for everyone and even the invalid was allowed to have a bit of the special treat. The nurse and Ducky also shared a few significant looks, though no one in the room appeared to notice the extra attention given to which serving went to the patient.

As Tony dipped his spoon into the dessert, he heard an unusual sound and paused to pull something out delicately with his fingers. Ducky and Abby shared another smile, the forensic scientist recognizing the lucky Mallard sixpence that the ME had shown her a few years ago.

"That means luck, Tony!" Abby said, clapping happily. Everyone else now understood the funny looks and all smiled broadly at the subterfuge Ducky had managed to pull off without any of them being the wiser.

"That coin, my boy, has been baked into every Mallard Christmas pudding since the 1850's. Though this year I had to make due with the more plebian version of pudding I found in the cafeteria. Abby is indeed correct, it does promise luck to the one who finds it."

"That's great Ducky. Too bad I couldn't have found it a little sooner," Tony said with a smile and everyone chuckled. Making light of how close he came to dying was always part of Tony's routine when he got out of a scrape. Everyone appreciated the joke, knowing that it meant he was feeling better.

A couple hours later it seemed that the nurses had finally decided to give up on exerting any control whatsoever over the room containing the injured NCIS Agent. By the time two of them caught sight of a pair of pony tails bouncing down the hall behind the top of a small Christmas tree (complete with a tiny string of lights), they didn't even bother to raise an eyebrow.

"Now it really feels like Christmas!" Abby said, coming in with her burden and putting it down. Ziva helped to plug in the lights and Abby clapped as they came on.

From the side of Tony's bed (a spot he'd barely left since the moment Tony had opened his eyes), Gibbs smiled in satisfaction at seeing everyone in his family so happy. He would never be the type to show his joy as obviously as the others, but he was sure he felt almost the same. Now that Tony was awake and getting better by the second, he'd been allowed to relax and enjoy the day. Doing nothing but worrying over the younger man for over 24 hours had taken almost as much of a toll on him as it had on Tony. Now he could simply sit back and let everyone keep Tony's spirits up, while he still kept a watchful eye on him. Wary of any signs of undue stress or of the visitors taking too much out of the invalid, and Gibbs would be ready to kick them all out and call in a nurse. Whether Tony liked it or not.

For now though, Tony seemed perfectly happy; especially a few minutes later when McGee returned from a brief disappearance with a flat package in his hands.

"Thought we should have a little of the DiNozzo Family Tradition," McGee said with a grin as he opened the bag to pull out a portable DVD player. Next he pulled out a much smaller package, a copy of "It's A Wonderful Life."

"Aw thanks, McGoo," Tony said, a little touched that McGee would think of going to all the trouble for him.

McGee and Palmer got the movie set up while Ducky and Abby got more apple juice boxes from the cafeteria. It wasn't quite the hot apple cider that Tony normally served and there was no caramel popcorn, but considering all that had happened, he was more than satisfied with the substitutes.

Ziva turned off the overhead lights and as the sun had just set, soon the only illumination in the room came from the small strand of Christmas lights on the tree by the window and the glow of the DVD player.

As the movie began, Tony found that his eyes were barely on it. Instead he found himself looking around the room at his family. All his adult life, Tony had managed to live without a family. He'd done just fine on his own, even coming up with his very own "DiNozzo Family Tradition" of watching "It's A Wonderful Life" on Christmas and making his own hot cider and caramel popcorn. He'd started the tradition as something to look forward to on those lonely Christmas Days spent in his small crappy apartment when not on duty as a beat cop in Philadelphia. His only wish had been to someday have a family to share it with.

He'd love the classic ever since he'd seen it the first time as a kid, so making it into a tradition hadn't been that much of a stretch. He figured the reason he loved it so much was because he had often felt like George Bailey, especially as a younger child. So many nights he had gone to bed and wondered why he was there, what purpose did he serve, would it be better had he not been born? A father who barely looked at you after your mother died, it could make a boy feel like that.

Nowadays, Tony felt more like George Bailey at the end of the film. He knew for a fact that the world wouldn't be a better place had he not been born. Not that he was anything all that special, but he had saved a lot of lives and helped a lot of people. Now he knew that if he'd never existed, there'd be a lot of people who wouldn't be around anymore.

Strange as it sounded, Tony couldn't have asked for a much better Christmas. He was surrounded by those he truly considered his family, doing the one thing that had always made him happy on Christmas Day. As he dozed off (not even halfway through the film, the day having taken its toll on his still healing body), Tony felt truly loved. It was the love that he knew would help him get through and help him get better.

While he would have preferred to end the day in a lot less pain….and a heck of a lot less tubes running into his body, Tony was still happy as found himself drifting off to the sound of the old flick. He would heal with the help of his family.

As Gibbs looked over, he saw Tony's eyes close and felt relieved that the other man would finally be getting some rest. He too couldn't have asked for a much better Christmas Day. Since losing Shannon and Kelly, Christmas Day had always been about fighting back the pain that came with the memories of happier times.

The memories he'd always fought so hard to keep at bay, hadn't come to bother him today with all that had happened. Now, as he watched Tony sleeping peacefully and looked around at the rest of his new family, he felt joy he hadn't associated with the day in a long while. Rather than feeling guilty about pushing aside thoughts of Shannon and Kelly, he knew this was a good thing. His wife and daughter would never want him to spend the rest of this days feeling pain because of them.

Whether by blood or friendship, family was the most important thing to have during the holidays. Gibbs hadn't replaced his wife and daughter. He'd simply added new members to his family.

The movie came to its happy conclusion and as Zuzu declared that an angel had gotten its wings, Gibbs looked around the room once more and smiled. Lying side by side on the other bed, Ducky and Abby were sleeping on each other's shoulders with Ziva curled up at their feet. Their necks bent at odd angles and bound to protest the positions in the morning, Palmer and McGee were each sound asleep in the other chairs, snoring softly.

As Gibbs looked at the sight, he thought that George Bailey had gotten it right.

It really was a wonderful life.

* * *

_Well there it is, the end. I hope y'all enjoyed it and I am planning on starting a new story soon. I'll be posting the Gibbs and Tony on horseback story I've been yammering about for months now, so stay tuned for that one. _

_In the meantime I'll be doing both of my blogs of course (links are on my profile page). The newest one I will start updating shortly, so stay tuned…._

_Till next time, thanks again to everyone who reviewed or sent messages to myself and of course to Laine. Y'all are the best!_

_-Moki_


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